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ENCYCLOPAEDIA

JUDAICA

ENCYCLOPAEDIA

JUDAICA

SECOND EDITION

VOLUME 20

To -We 1

Fred Skolnik, Editor in Chief
Michael Berenbaum, Executive Editor

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ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Entries To -Wei

Abbreviations
General Abbreviations

757

Abbreviations used in Rabbinical Literature

758

Bibliographical Abbreviations

764

Transliteration Rules

111

Glossary
780

jib. i

■

■|

Initial letter "T" of the phrase
Temptavit Deus Abraham in a
i4 th -century Paris missal. The il-
lumination shows the "sacrifice" of
Isaac. Rheims, Bibliotheque Mu-
nicipal, Ms. 2301, fol. 49V.

To-Tz

TOAFF, Italian family of rabbis, alfredo sabato toaff
(1880-1963) was born in Leghorn and studied under R. Elijah
*Benamozegh at the Leghorn Rabbinical College, where he
was made professor, and in 1923 succeeded Samuel ^Colombo
as chief rabbi of Leghorn. A member of the Italian Rabbini-
cal Council for many years (from 1931), he was several times
its president. He headed the Leghorn Rabbinical College and
was head of the * Collegio Rabbinico Italiano in Rome from
its reopening in 1955 until his death, which occurred in his
native city. He was the author of many works on, and trans-
lations into Italian of, biblical and post-biblical Hebrew lit-
erature, as well as of writings on the history and traditions of
the Leghorn Jewish community (such as Cenni storici sulla
Comunitd Ebraica e sulla Singagoga di Livorno y 1955). Many
of his writings show the influence of E. Benamozegh, whose
Scritti Scelti (1955) he edited. A bibliography of the writings
of Alfredo Toaff appears in: E. Toaff (ed.), Annuario di Studi
Ebraici (1965), 215-6.

His son, elio toaff (1915- ), was born in Leghorn and
was the last rabbi ordained by its Rabbinical College, before

its closure by the Fascist regime (reopened 1955). He was rabbi
of Ancona (1941-46) and of Venice (1946-51) and was called
to Rome to succeed David *Prato as chief rabbi of that com-
munity in 1951. A member of the Italian Rabbinical Council
and head of the Collegio Rabbinico Italiano from 1963, he
edited the Annuario di Studi Ebraici at the college. Elio was
a member of the executive of the Conference of European
Rabbis. On April 13, 1986, he welcomed Pope John Paul 11 on
the first visit ever by a pope to a synagogue. He wrote articles
and translated studies on Jewish, biblical, and historical top-
ics from Hebrew into Italian.

bibliography: Israel, corriere israelitico, 49 (1963), nos.

7-13; Ha-Tikwd, Organo della Federazione giovanile ebraica d'ltalia,

11 (1963), no. 9.

[Sergio DellaPergola]

TOB (Heb. 11D), biblical place name. When *Jephthah the
Gileadite was expelled from his fathers house, he went to the
land of Tob (Judg. 11:13). "A man of Tob" (Heb. ish Tov) is men-
tioned alongside the Aramean armies which came to the aid

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOBACCO TRADE AND INDUSTRIES

of the Ammonites during their war with David (n Sam. 10:6,
8). The phrase "a man of Tob" apparently refers to the peo-
ple of the land of Tob (cf. the usages "man of Israel," "man of
God"), or to a Tobite ruler (cf. the terms for Canaanite rulers
in the *E1-Amarna tablets).

Documents from the second millennium b.c.e. mention
a place called Tby or Tubu, along with cities in *Bashan. It has
been suggested, therefore, by B. Mazar, that the land of Tob is
to be located in the vicinity of the settlement of Taiyibeh, east
of Edrei. It seems that the land of Tob was back country, and
that it served as an asylum for outlaws.

bibliography: B. Maisler (Mazar), in: jpos, 9 (1929), 83; M.
Noth, in: zdpv, 68 (1949), 6 (n. 6), 8 (n. 3), 27-28.

[Bustanay Oded]

TOBACCO TRADE AND INDUSTRIES. Throughout
the first two centuries after the discovery of tobacco for Eu-
rope through Christopher Columbus, *Marranos took part
in spreading its cultivation and in introducing it to Europe.
Jews took up smoking (widespread from the 17 th century) and
snuff taking (widespread from the 18 th ), and entered the trade
in tobacco, which, starting out as a luxury article, became a
mass consumer commodity.

At Amsterdam, the first important tobacco importing
and processing center in the 17 th century, Isak ltaliaander was
the largest importer, and 10 of the 30 leading tobacco import-
ers were Jews. Ashkenazi and poor Sephardi Jews were em-
ployed in processing tobacco for snuff: the profession of 14 out
of 24 bridegrooms in a list of 1649-53 was tobacco dressing. In
this period Jews took an active part in the tobacco trade of the
^Hamburg center. The first Jews to settle in ^Mecklenburg in
the late 17 th century were tobacco traders from Hamburg who
leased the ducal tobacco monopoly; outstanding was Michael
Hinrichsen nicknamed "Tabakspinner." Sephardi Jews filled an
important role in the "appalto" system of contracting for the
monopoly on the tobacco trade (or other products). The mo-
nopoly concession system was also practiced in the Austrian
provinces and the southern German states. In this, Sephardi
Jews were often the contractors because of their previous ex-
perience. The business carried considerable risks, including
fluctuating prices, varying quality, deterioration through adul-
teration, and the hazards of war.

Diego d'*Aguilar managed to hold the tobacco monopoly
in Austria in 1734-48, using Christian nobles as men of straw.
In the second half of the 18 th century the tobacco monopoly
of Bohemia and Moravia was in the hands of members of the
*Dobruschka, Topper, and *Hoenig families, whereby they
rose to importance and amassed wealth. Jews succeeded in
holding the tobacco monopoly in only a few principalities in
Germany. In the 19 th century Jews entered the open tobacco
market. In 1933 Jews engaged in about 5% of the German to-
bacco trade and industry, primarily as cigar manufacturers.

In Eastern Europe snuff processing was widespread, and
tobacco was a staple ware of the Jewish *peddler. When in
the mid- 19 th century cigars and cigarettes entered the mass

market Leopold * Kronenberg, the Jewish industrialist and fi-
nancier, was one of the main entrepreneurs in Poland, own-
ing 12 factories in 1867 and producing 25% of the total. Of
110 tobacco factories in the Tale of Settlement in 1897, 83
were owned by Jews, and over 80% of the workers were Jew-
ish. This participation continued into the 20 th century, and
the Jewish tobacco workers were active in the ranks of so-
cialism. The huge Y. Shereshevsky tobacco factory in Grodno
employed, before World War 1, some 1,800 workers. The na-
tionalization in Poland of the tobacco and liquor industries
in 1923-24 was a severe blow to the many Jews who gained
their livelihood from them. The leading tobacco factories in
Riga, Latvia, were owned by two wealthy Karaites, Asimakis
and Maikapar.

On the American continent Jews traded in tobacco as
early as 1658. It frequently served as legal tender and was a
stock retail article of the Jewish peddler. However, Jews played
a considerable part only in the snuff trade, among them the
firms of Asher and Solomon, and Gomez. Judah Morris, who
wrote the first Hebrew book to be printed in North America,
became a snuff trader. The last quarter of the 19 th century
brought an influx of impoverished Jewish immigrants from
Eastern Europe who entered the cigar and cigarette industry,
and, after the garment industry, it had the largest concentra-
tion of Jewish workers in the United States. The first profes-
sional cigar makers were generally Jews of Dutch or German
origin, who employed the immigrants in their factories or in
sweatshops. The Jewish firm of Keeney Brothers, makers of
"Sweet Caporals," employed approximately 2,000 Jewish work-
ers. The Durham factory almost exclusively employed Jews.
Tobacco workers, organized by Samuel *Gompers, became the
spearhead of the labor union movement in the United States
in the 1870s and 1880s. Subsequently Jewish participation in
the cigarette industry declined through the creation of large
concerns, though many cigar firms remained under Jewish
ownership. In New York and the major cities the tobacco retail
trade occupied a high proportion of Jews. A survey by Fortune
magazine (Jews in America; 1935) stated that "Jews have practi-
cally blanketed the tobacco buying business, where Jews and
buyer are synonymous words, and they control three of the
four leading cigar- manufacturing concerns, including Fred
Hirschhorns General Cigar, which makes every seventh ci-
gar smoked in America." The * Oilman family of Philip Mor-
ris, involved in American tobacco from the mid-i9 th century,
was a giant of the industry. In Canada Jews played a leading
role in introducing the tobacco industry; Mortimer B. Davis
was known as the "tobacco king" of Canada.

In Great Britain cigar making was traditionally associated
with Dutch Jews, who formed the main body of Jewish im-
migrants in the mid-i9 th century; cigar making was the most
widespread occupation in London's East End in i860. In 1850,
44% of the meerschaum pipe makers were Jewish, and 22%
of the cigar manufacturers. East European Jewish immigrants
introduced cigarette making into England. In 1880 Jacob Ka-
musch, an Austrian Jewish cigarette entrepreneur, brought

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOBACK, JAMES

310 workers, mainly Jewish, to his Glasgow cigarette factory.
Isidore Gluckstein founded his first tobacconist shop in 1872
and became the biggest retail tobacconist in England, up to
1904. Bernhard *Baron was a large-scale cigarette manufac-
turer in America and England.

Sephardi Jews played an active role in the tobacco trade
from its beginnings in the Ottoman Empire. The *Recanati
banking family began as ^Salonika tobacco merchants. Thrace
and Macedonia were major tobacco-growing areas; the *Ala-
tino (Alatini) family became sole suppliers of the Italian to-
bacco monopoly.

[Henry Wasserman]

In Israel

Tobacco growing was first introduced in the country in
1923/24, in order to solve problems of unemployment. New
immigrants from Bulgaria and Greece took an important
part in the development of the industry. All kinds of tobacco
products are manufactured in Israel. In 1969 the overall pro-
duction included 3,700 tons of cigarettes, 15,000 kg. of cigars,
60,600 kg. of tumbak, 40,100 kg. of snuff, and 16,600 kg. of
pipe tobacco. In the same year the consumption of tobacco
products amounted to nearly il 200,000,000 (about 2% of the
total private consumption in Israel), including mainly locally
produced products but also about $6,000,000 worth of im-
ported products. There were 15 manufacturing plants in Israel,
employing 875 workers and processing mostly locally grown
tobacco of Oriental aroma. Tobacco was grown mainly in the
non- Jewish sector in northern Israel. In 1950 tobacco-grow-
ing areas amounted to 9,000 dunams, and tobacco-product
manufacture reached 600 tons. By 1969 tobacco was grown
in 35,000 dunams and production increased to 2,200 tons.
Since that time tobacco production has dropped radically, to
150 tons on 5,000 dunams by 1990, but cigarette imports have
risen dramatically, by about 2,500% between 1970 and 2000
along with a 33% increase in tobacco leaf imports. Local cig-
arette production rose from 3,668 million cigarettes in 1970
to 4,933 million in 1995. The industry employed around 600

workers in the late 1990s.

[Zeev Barkai]

bibliography: M. Hainisch, in: Vierteljahrschrift fuer Sozial-
und Wirtschaftsgeschichte, 8 (1910), 394-444; W. Stieda, Die Besteuer-
ung des Tabaks in Ansbach-Bayreuth und Bamberg-Wuerzburg im
achtzehnten Jahrhundert (1911); M. Grunwald, Samuel Oppenheimer
(1913), 295-300; A.D. Hart, The Jew in Canada (1926), 324-5, 337; S.B.
Weinryb, Neueste Wirtschaftsgeschichte derjuden in Russland undPo-
len (1934), index, s.v. Tabakindustrie; P. Friedmann, in: Jewish Stud-
ies in Memory of G.A. Kohut (1935), 196, 232-3 (Ger.); H.I. Bloom,
Economic Activities of the Jews of Amsterdam (1937); H. Rachel et al.,
Berliner Grosskaufleute und Kapitalisten, 2 (1938), 50-52; J. Starr, in:
jsos,7 (1945), 323-6; M. Epstein, Jewish Labor in U.S.A. (1950), 76-78;
J. Shatzky, Geshikhte fun Yidn in Varshe, 3 (1953), 37, 43-46; H. Sch-
nee, Die Hoffinanz und der moderne Staat, 1 (1953), 89, 185; 2 (1954),
88f., 2946°.; 3 (1955), 1236°.; 4 (1963), 219-22, 239-41; S. Gompers, Sev-
enty Years of Life and Labour (1957 2 ); H. Kellenbenz, Sephardim an
der unteren Elbe (1958), 205, 436-46; J. Frumkin et al., Russian Jewry
(1966), 130-1; V. Kurrein, in: Menorah, 3 (1925), 155 f.; A. Mueller, Zur
Geschichte der Judenf rage in... der Landgrafschaft Hessen-Darmstadt

(1937), 54-56; S. Simonsohn, Toledot ha-Yehudim be-Dukkasut Man-
tovah, 2 vols. (1962-64); Z. Kahana, in: Kol Torah, 3 (1949/50), 55-61;
L.P. Gartner, The Jewish Immigrant in England (i960), 73-75; V.D. Lip-
man, Social History of the Jews in England (1954), index.

TOBACH, ETHEL (1921- ), U.S. leader in the field of com-
parative psychology and the use of psychological knowledge
for the public good. Tobach was born in the Ukraine to Fanya
(Schecterman) and Ralph Wiener. Two weeks after her birth
her parents fled with her to Palestine to escape pogroms.
When Tobach's father died nine months later, her mother im-
migrated with her to Philadelphia and became an activist in
the garment workers' union. Tobach also worked at blue-collar
occupations while attending Hunter College in New York City,
from which she graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1949. Shortly af-
ter World War 11 she married Charles Tobach, a fellow radi-
cal who belonged to her union. He encouraged her to pursue
graduate work in psychology at New York University, where
she received a Ph.D. in 1957.

Tobach spent her entire career at the American Museum
of Natural History, rising to the rank of curator. Although she
taught at a number of universities in the New York City area,
for most of her professional life she was a full time researcher
in animal behavior. Her research was voluminous and broad
in scope. Her empirical articles focused on the link between
stress and disease in rats; she also contributed extensively to
the study of emotionality in rats and mice, and explored the
biopsychology of development and the evolution of social be-
havior. Tobach was a consistent critic of genetic determinism;
one of her most important contributions to psychology was
the book series, "Genes and Gender," initiated in 1978 with
Betty Rosoff. These books critically examined psychology's
relatively unsophisticated view of the interactions between
biological and social processes.

Tobach was vice president of the New York Academy
of Sciences in 1972, president of the American Psychological
Association Division of Comparative and Physiological Psy-
chology in 1984-85, president of the Eastern Psychological
Association in 1987-88, and president of the a pa Division on
Peace in 2003-4. In 1993 she received the Kurt Lewin award
from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues
and in 2003 she received an award for Life Time Service for
Psychology in the Public Interest from the American Psycho-
logical Foundation.

bibliography: R.K. Unger, "Tobach, Ethel," in P.E. Hy-

man and D. Dash Moore (eds.), Jewish Women in America, 2 (1997),

1404-6.

[Rhoda K. Unger (2 nd ed.)]

TOBACK, JAMES (1944- ), U.S. writer, screenwriter-direc-
tor, and producer. Born in New York City, Toback was edu-
cated at Harvard University (A.B., 1966) and Columbia Uni-
versity (M.A., 1967). He served as an instructor in English at
the City College of the City University of New York and wrote
jim: The Authors Self-Centered Memoir on the Great Jim Brown
(1971). He was also the author of a sports column appearing

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOBENKIN, ELIAS

in Lifestyle, a film critic for Dissent; and contributed articles
to numerous magazines, including Esqu ire, Sport, the Village
Voice, Harpers, and Commentary. Toback wrote the screen-
plays for The Gambler (1974) and Bugsy (1991) and was the
writer and director for Fingers (1978), Love and Money (1982),
Exposed (1983), The Pick-Up Artist (1987), The Big Bang (19 8 9);
Two Girls and a Guy (1997), Black & White (1999), Love in
Paris (1999), Harvard Man (2001), and When Will I Be Loved
(2004). Subsequently he wrote the screenplay for the French
remake of his film Fingers, translated into English as The Beat

That My Heart Skipped (2005).

[Amy Handelsman (2 nd ed.)]

TOBENKIN, ELIAS (1882-1963), U.S. journalist and au-
thor. Born in Russia and taken to the U.S. as a boy, he served
as Russian expert for the U.S. Committee on Public Informa-
tion. He was correspondent for the Herald Tribune in East-
ern Europe and Germany, and in 1926 spent five months in
the U.S.S.R. and wrote an uncensored account of the Com-
munist regime. His first novel Witte Arrives (1916) described
the Americanization of an immigrant Jewish family. God of
Might (1925) dealt with the problems of intermarriage. Among
his other books were Stalin's Ladder (1933) and The Peoples
Want Peace (1938).

TOBIADS, dynastic family of political importance from the
time of Nehemiah to the end of the Hasmonean revolt. The
name Tobiah remained in the family on the basis of pappyon-
omy, handed down from grandson to son, for many genera-
tions. There is good literary evidence for at least four promi-
nent members of the family and archaeological evidence of
their country seat in Transjordan for several hundred years in
the Hellenistic period. The family may have had earlier ances-
tors, such as Tobijah, returnee from the Exile, mentioned by
Zechariah (6:9 and 14); Tubyahu, "arm" and "servant" of the
king, mentioned in the Lachish letters of 588 B.C. e.; and even
the "son of Tabeel," a usurper planning to replace King Ahaz
(Isa. 7:6), all as claimed by Mazar (1957).

The Tobiad estate was at Tyros (Zur, or "rock"), some
13 mi. (20 km), west of Rabbat-Ammon (Philadelphia) and
was rediscovered by Willam Bankes in 1818 (Irby and Mangles
1823), thanks to a full account of it by Josephus. He described it
as diparadeisos, a kind of Persian country estate, consisting of
a marble fortress (birta) with animals carved on the walls, and
surrounded by a moat; a long series of defensible caves; some
enclosed halls and vast parks; and located between Arabia and
Judea, not far from Heshbon (Ant. 12:222-34). His account is
accurate, though not in all details. The site is known today as
Airaq (or 'Iraq) al-Amir ("Cliff of the Prince"), based on the
cliff of caves, and the name Tyros, or Zur, is still preserved in
that of the adjacent valley, Wadi Sir. Two of the cave entrances
carry a large Aramaic inscription, tobyah, to the right-hand
side of their doorways. The chief building, of monumental size
though plainly not a fortress, sported at each corner a frieze
of lions (with two eagles above) and had two unique panther

fountains (Lapp 1963). It is called the Qasr al-Abd ("Castle
of the Slave") and was largely restored by a French team in
the years 1976 to 1986 (Will and Larche, 1991). It was built
by Hyrcanus, the last of the Tobiads, and largely completed,
but much of its megalithic construction was toppled by later
earthquakes (Amiran 1996).

The earliest Tobiad to be described in some detail is To-
byah, "the servant, the Ammonite" (Neh. 2:10). He was one of
the chief opponents of Nehemiah, when he came to rebuild
the walls of Jerusalem in 445 b.c.e. As Tobyah was allied to
*Sanballat of Samaria and Geshem the Arabian (2:19), all ma-
jor landowners, it is likely that their opposition was mainly
due to the land reforms being forced through by Nehemiah
(5:11). Tobyah was well connected to other Jewish aristocratic
families by oath (6:17-18) and to the priesthood by marriage.
He was given rooms in the offerings chamber of the Temple by
the High Priest Eliashib, but Nehemiah had him expelled and
insisted that the place be ritually cleansed thereafter (13:4-11).
The title given him by Nehemiah, "the servant, the Ammo-
nite," is generally taken to be a rank implying ministerial ser-
vice to the Persians in Ammon, and some have claimed that
he was governor of the Persian province of Ammon. But that
post is not attested to and the title could also be pejorative, as
implying that Tobyah's pedigree was not faultless, seeing that,
on their return from the Exile, the Benei Tobyah clan had not
been able to prove "they were of Israel" (7:61-62).

The second known prominent member of the family was
Toubias, who was visited by Zenon, acting on behalf of Appo-
lonius, chief minister to Ptolemy 11 Philadelphos of Egypt. The
papyri records of his journey through Palestine and Transjor-
dan are dated to 259 b.c.e. He visited Surabit (Zur bayit), the
birta of Ammonitis, where he conducted trade with its chief-
tain Toubias. Zenon brought grain from Egypt and several
contracts record that he received slave boys and girls and ex-
otic animals in return. The animals, consisting of horses, dogs,
donkeys, and asses, were sent as gifts to Appolonius and to
Ptolemy directly (Tcherikover and Fuks 1957). The contracts
were witnessed by Persian and Greek soldiers and indicate that
Tyros was then a military camp as well as an animal breeding
center under Toubias and well known to the Egyptians.

Josephus wrote extensively on the subject of Joseph, son
of Tobias, and his son Hyrcanus (Ant. 12:154-236) in a sec-
tion that is generally known as the Tobiad Saga, or the "Tales
of the Tobiads" (Goldstein 1975). His account had been seen
as mainly fictional, as it contains many fabulous deeds of the
two Tobiads, but when the evidence of the Zenon Papyri (as
above) came to light in 1918, and when Josephus's description
of Tyros was seen to accord with the facts on the ground, it
was necessary to take him seriously. He tells us that Josephs
mother was a sister of the High Priest Onias, and that as a
young man he was elected as prostastes (chief magistrate) of
the Jews in place of Onias, who had refused to pay tribute to
Ptolemy, the Egyptian Pharaoh. Joseph went to Alexandria
and obtained the office of tax farmer to Ptolemy for Coele-
Syria (Palestine) and, with the help of Egyptian troops, ex-

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOBIADS

tracted tax sums that pleased his master. He also enriched
himself and, according to Josephus, enhanced the status of
his Jewish brethren. He carried out this work for 22 years. In
his old age he sent Hyrcanus, the youngest of his seven sons,
to Alexandria to attend the birthday celebrations of the new
Pharaohs son. Hyrcanus took the opportunity to supplant his
father as tax farmer by offering a huge sum of his father's funds
to the new Pharaoh, thus outbidding all others, and excluding
his older brothers, who had not been interested in making the
journey. His father and brothers naturally took umbrage and
on his return Hyrcanus had to flee Jerusalem to Tyros, where
he set up the family estate, as previously described. He dwelt
there in conflict with his Arab neighbors for seven years and
eventually committed suicide when Antiochus 1 v Epiphanes
came to the Seleucid throne in 175 b.c.e., and made an end
of the Tyros estate.

This detailed account raises as many questions as it an-
swers. Much of the inconsistencies are due to the continuing
wars between the Ptolemies and the Seleucids, who eventually
gained control of Palestine from the Ptolemies in 200 b.c.e.
It appears that Joseph the tax farmer was pro -Ptolemy and
managed to supplant his uncle Onias, who was unwilling to
pay tribute to Ptolemy when he saw the Seleucids in the as-
cendant. Later his sons sided with the Seleucids, while the
youngest, Hyrcanus, remained loyal to the Ptolemies. Hyr-
canus had to retreat to Tyros in the face of the Seleucid vic-
tory and when the Seleucids started to expand their Empire
under Antiochus 1 v, he thought his fate was sealed. But it may
not have been so.

After the discovery of the Zenon Papyri in 1918, it was
assumed that Joseph, the son of Tobias was the son of the
Toubias of the Zenon Papyri. However, that places him at
too early a date, and it is more likely that he was the son of a
grandson of that Toubias, who carried the same name. It was
Onias 11 who had refused to pay tribute to Ptolemy in Eur-
getes, and when his successor Ptolemy iv Philopater won a
surprise victory against the Seleucids in 222 b.c.e., Joseph was
appointed in place of his uncle, Onias 11. Twenty-two years
later, he sent Hyrcanus to the birth celebrations of the son of
Ptolemy v and Cleopatra 1, and Hyrcanus took the tax farmer
post from Joseph. This may not have been such a coup, as in
exactly that year, 200 b.c.e., Antiochus in finally wrested
Palestine from the Ptolemies, so the taxes should now have
gone to the Seleucids. However, he generously transferred
those taxes to Cleopatra, his daughter (Schwartz 1998), and
it seems that Hyrcanus was astute enough to see they would
then go to her husband, his master, Ptolemy v. Meanwhile
Ptolemy's general Scopas tried to retake Jerusalem but failed
to do so in 198 b.c.e., and it is then that Hyrcanus was ousted
from Jerusalem and spent the rest of his days, and his wealth,
in developing the family estate at Tyros.

It is unlikely that Hyrcanus committed suicide or even
died in 175 b.c.e. The Seleucids were too busy, in Jerusalem
and Egypt, to take notice of him and it is more likely that he
survived until at least 169 or 168 b.c.e., when Antiochus iv

returned from Egypt and punished the Jews for believing him
to be dead. He may then have turned his attention to the re-
maining pockets of Ptolemaic resistance. In any case we know
that the estate stood until 163 b.c.e., when it was overrun by
the Seleucid general Timotheus, who massacred about a thou-
sand men of "our fellow Jews in the region of Tubias"(n Mace.
5:13). It also appears that Jason, the hellenizing high priest, who
displaced his brother Onias in, and built the gymnasium in
Jerusalem (n Mace. 4:12) had, in his turn, to flee in 171 b.c.e.
from the more extreme usurper Menelaus, and came to find
sanctuary in "Ammonite country" (n Mace. 4:26), probably
in Tyros with his cousin Hyrcanus.

From the archeological evidence it is clear that it was
Hyrcanus who built the Qasr al- Abd, it being in the Hellenis-
tic style of the late second century b.c.e., similar to palaces
at Alexandria and Ionia (Butler 1907, Nielsen 1994). For many
years it was considered to be an unorthodox temple built to
challenge Jerusalem, but no altar has been found and the in-
terior, now reconstructed by the French team, is quite unsuit-
able for use as a shrine. The French have concluded that it is
"Le Chateau du Tobiade Hyrcan" but that is unlikely. It was
designed to stand in the center of a lake, for which there is
good evidence, and was a grand monumental building whose
lower floor, of small rooms surrounded by massive monoliths,
could only, in their opinion, be designated as mere storerooms
(Will and Larche 1991). And access via the lake would have
been cumbersome. Therefore it is more likely to have been
intended as a mausoleum to his distinguished family by its
last scion, Hyrcanus, as surmised many years ago by W.F. Al-
bright. The group of lion sculptures at each corner represent
the guardians of a typical Ionian mausoleum, and the upper
eagles represent the messengers that carry the souls of the
dead to heaven. The small rooms of the monumental lower
story were for burials and the columnated upper story for fu-
nereal banquets (Rosenberg 2004).

Hyrcanus turned the whole of the family estate into a
Hellenistic garden city (paradeisos) as Josephus claims (Ant.
12:233). He renovated the ancient caves and turned two of
them into triclinia, or feasting chambers. He built a small ae-
dicule, as a shrine or tomb (Butler 1907), a vast dike to the lake
he intended to form around the Qasr al-Abd, a nymphaeum
(water source) on the hillside, and a monumental gateway
to the estate. He converted the older buildings on the upper
site - which go back to the Iron Age, and which had been the
original birta (fortress) of the estate (Gera 1990) - into spa-
cious halls with plastered walls (Lapp 1963). It is impossible
that he could have done all this in the seven years allocated
to him by Josephus, though it is clear that he did not live to
finish the Qasr.

The two tobyah cave inscriptions are now safely dated
to the fourth century b.c.e. (Naveh 1976) and show that the
estate was that of the Tobiads well before the time of Hyr-
canus. It was a true paradeisos, in that its development be-
gan in the Persian period, adjacent to the original birta on
the upper site.

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOBIAS, ABRAHAM

The Tobiads were clearly Hellenizers from the time of the
Tobyah of the Zenon Papyri and played an important role in
the events leading up to the Hasmonean revolt. Joseph, son of
Tobias, in particular would have brought customs of Alexan-
drian life and luxury, in the wake of his increased wealth, to
Jerusalem. And the Tobiads would have supported the High
Priest Jason in building a gymnasium and designating Jeru-
salem to be a Greek polls. Nevertheless, when it came to the
war against the Seleucids, the Tubian Jews sided with the Has-
moneans and * Judah Maccabee crossed the Jordan to avenge
the death of the thousands slain by the Seleucids in the land
of the Tubians (n Mace. 12:23).

bibliography: D.H.K. Amiran, "Location Index for Earth-
quakes in Israel since 100 b.c.e.," in: iej, 46:1-2 (1996), 120-30; H.C.
Butler, Ancient Architecture in Syria, Division 11, Princeton (1907); D.
Gera, "On the Credibility of the History of the Tobiads," in: Kasher et
al. (eds.), Greece and Rome in Eretz Israel, (1990) 21-38; J. Goldstein,
"The Tales of the Tobiads," in: J. Neusner (ed.), Christianity, Judaism
and Other Greco-Roman Cults (1975), pt. in, 85-123; C.L. Irby and J.
Mangles, Travels in Egypt and Nubia, Syria and Asia Minor (1823),
473-74; P.W. Lapp, "The Second and Third Campaigns at Araq el-
Emir," in: basor, 171 (1963), 8-39; B. Mazar, "The Tobiads," in: iej,
7 : 3 ( x 957)> 1 37 _ 45 an d 229-38; J. Naveh, "The Development of the
Aramaic Script," in: Proceedings of the Israel Academy of Sciences
and Humanities, vol. 5 (1976), 62-65; E- Netzer, "Tyros, the Floating
Palace" in: Wilson et al. (eds.), Text and Artifact in the Religions of
Mediterranean Antiquity (2000), 340-53; I. Nielsen, Hellenistic Pal-
aces, Tradition and Renewal (1994); S.G. Rosenberg, "Qasr al-Abd: a
Mausoleum of the Tobiad Family?" in: baias, 19-20 (2001-2), 157-75;
D.R. Schwartz, "Josephuss Tobiads, Back to the Second Century?"
in: M. Goodman (ed.), Jews in a Greco-Roman World (1998), 47-61;
V.A. Tcherikover and A. Fuks, Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum, vol.
1 (1957), 125-29.; E. Will and F. Larche, Iraq al-Amir, le Chateau du

Tobiade Hyrcan (1991).

[Stephen G. Rosenberg (2 nd ed.)]

TOBIAS, ABRAHAM (1793-1856), Charleston business-
man and civic leader. Born in Charleston, Tobias received lit-
tle formal education. He prospered as an auctioneer, vendue
master, and commission merchant. He was a director of the
Union Bank of South Carolina for 21 years, a member of the
City Board of Health (1833-37), an d a commissioner of pilot-
age for Charleston harbor (1838-43). He participated in the
turbulent politics of the period as a States Rights Party mem-
ber, supporting John C. Calhoun's position. As a trustee of
Beth Elohim synagogue, of which his great-grandfather, Jo-
seph *Tobias, was a founder (1749), he was a key figure in the
1840s when the congregation split over installing an organ and
making other ritual reforms.

bibliography: B.A. Elzas, The Jews of South Carolina (1905),
passim; A. Tarshish, in: ajhsq, 54 (1965), 411-49.

[Thomas J. Tobias]

TOBIAS, JOSEPH (1684-1761), colonial settler of Charleston,
South Carolina. Tobias, whose parentage and birthplace are
unknown, was of Spanish lineage. He served as Spanish in-
terpreter in the British navy prior to coming to Charleston in

the early 1730s. During the long-standing hostilities between
the English and the Spanish in the South, Tobias served the
South Carolina government as a Spanish interpreter. In 1741
he became a naturalized British subject, being one of the first
Jews in the colonies to apply under an act passed by Parlia-
ment in 1740. Tobias was one of the founders and first parnas
of Charlestons congregation Beth Elohim, organized in 1749.
His wife, Leah, was the daughter of Jacob De Oliviera, one of
the original Savannah Jewish settlers in 1733.

bibliography: T.J. Tobias, in: ajhsp, 49 (1959), 33-38; B.A.
Elzas, The Jews of South Carolina (1905), 24, and passim; C. Reznikoff
and U.Z. Engelman, The Jews of Charleston (1950), passim; T.J. To-
bias, in: A.J. Karp (ed.), The Jewish Experience in America, 1 (1969),

114-9.

[Thomas J. Tobias]

TOBIAS, MOSES (1694-1769), merchant of *Surat, India.
A native of Cochin, Tobias was appointed in 1728 director of
the Surat Portuguese factory by the Portuguese viceroy and
undertook many important negotiations with the neighbor-
ing native rulers as accredited "agent of the Portuguese na-
tion." The Portuguese archives in Goa have preserved many
documents attesting to his diplomatic role in Surat, in which
he was succeeded by his son Isaac and other members of his
family throughout the 18 th century. Moses Tobias conducted
commercial transactions on a large scale and was a shipowner
whose vessels sailed the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean.
Dutch records of the day frequently register the movements
of the "Jew's ships of Surat" under the command of presum-
ably Jewish captains such as Jacob Moses and Moses Alexan-
der. Tobias' tombstone inscription, in which he is styled "nasi"
i.e., president, of the Surat Jewish community, is one of the few
preserved in the old Jewish cemetery in Surat.

bibliography: W.J. Fischel, Ha-Yehudim be-Hodu (i960),
39-46; idem, in: jqr, 47 (1956-57X 37~57-

[Walter Joseph Fischel]

TOBIAS, PHILLIP VALLENTINE (1925- ), South African
anatomist and paleoanthropologist. His paternal grandfather
Phillip Tobias served the Central Synagogue of London from
1854 to 1904. Professor Tobias was the great -great -grandson of
Isaac Vallentine (1793-1868), founder of the Jewish Chronicle.
Born in Durban, South Africa, Tobias taught at the Witwa-
tersrand Medical School from 1951. From 1959 until 1990 he
served as head of the department of anatomy. He was dean
of the Faculty of Medicine (1980-82), member of the Witwa-
tersrand University Council (1971-84), and the only simulta-
neous holder of three professorships at Witwatersrand Uni-
versity, Anatomy, Zoology, Palaeo- anthropology. From 1994
he was Professor Emeritus of Anatomy and Human Biology.
He was founder and president of the Institute for the Study of
Mankind in Africa (1961-68, 1983-84), president of the Royal
Society of South Africa (1970-72) and of the South African
Archaeological Society (1964-65), founder and first president
of the Anatomical Society of Southern Africa (1968-72) and

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOBIAS BEN MOSES HA-AVEL

South African Society for Quaternary Research (1969-73).
From 1994 to 1998, he was president of the International As-
sociation of Human Biologists. Protege and successor of Ray-
mond Dart, who discovered the first African australopithe-
cine, Tobias was from 1959 closely associated with Louis and
Mary Leakey, who found early hominid remains in north-
ern Tanzania. Some of these fossil hominids Leakey, Tobias,
and Napier identified as a new lowly species of man, which
they named Homo habilis (handy man) representing a more
hominised lineage than the australopithecines. Tobias later
adduced evidence that Homo habilis was the worlds earliest
primate with a capacity for spoken language. To a series of
volumes on Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, Tobias contributed a
monograph on the biggest-toothed australopithecines, Aus-
tralopithecus boiseiy and two volumes on Homo habilis. His
oeuvre of over 1,100 published works includes nearly 500 ar-
ticles in periodicals, 125 chapters in books, and over 50 books
and monographs. He is recognized internationally as a leading
authority in palaeo- anthropology and has received 17 honor-
ary doctorates, the Carmel Award of Merit of the University of
Haifa, and many medals, honorary professorships, civil deco-
rations, and memberships of academies. He has written inter
alia on living Africans, genetics, race and racism, academic
freedom, and the harmful effects of apartheid on South Afri-
can education. Tobias was active in Jewish communal affairs,
including the Board of Deputies and the Great Synagogue of
Johannesburg.

[Gali Rotstein and Bracher Rager (2 nd ed.)]

TOBIAS BEN MOSES HA-AVEL (or ha-Ma'tik, "the trans-
lator"; 11 th century), ^Karaite scholar. He laid the theoretical
and educational foundations for establishing the Karaites in
the Byzantine milieu. According to Elijah *Bashyazi (Iggeret
Gid ha-Nasheh, 4a) Tobias studied under * Jeshua b. Judah,
translated his works from Arabic into Hebrew, and brought
them to Constantinople. He would therefore seem to have
lived in the second half of the 11 th century. However, two let-
ters in Tobias' own handwriting found in the *Genizah of
Cairo indicate that he went to Jerusalem as early as the 1030s
(or possibly the 1020s). At any rate he had returned by 1041,
after he, like other Karaites, became involved in a bitter con-
troversy which split the * Rabbanite community in Erez Israel
between the supporters of *Nathan b. Abraham and the fol-
lowers of *Solomon b. Judah Gaon. Tobias could not have been
a pupil of Jeshua b. Judah since both apparently studied under
Joseph b. Abraham ha-Kohen "ha-Ro'eh" (al-*Basir), Tobias
even translating some of al-Basir's letters into Hebrew. A few
years later, at all events before 1048, Tobias headed the Karaite
community in Byzantium. He went to Egypt, perhaps as an
emissary, and there instituted regulations for the synagogues
of his community. His authority was recognized by all "the
communities of Edom [i.e., Byzantium] both near and far"
(letter to Abraham b. Yashar *Abu Sad al-Tustari in Egypt; see
Z. Ankori, in: Essays... S.W. Baron (1959), 38). As the indepen-
dent leader of the first Karaite center in the Byzantine Empire,

he several times addressed questions on halakhic matters to
the scholars in Jerusalem. Their answer to his query on inter-
calation was kept as a ruling for the Diaspora communities
(Judah Hadassi, Eshkol ha-Kofer, 76a).

Epithets

The epithets by which Tobias is remembered in Karaite his-
tory are an indication of his personality and activities. His
membership of the *Avelei Zion of Jerusalem while he was
a student in the academy there led to his designation ha-
avel ("the mourner") and ha-oved ("the worshiper"); his role
as commentator and decisor on the laws of his community
gained him the honorific ha-baki ("the erudite"), in addition
to the conventional appellations he-hakham ("the sage") and
ha-maskil ("the teacher"). Tobias attests that he was also called
ha-sofer ("the scribe"), possibly in reference to his art (as dem-
onstrated by his fine calligraphy in manuscripts which have
survived). The title ha-matik ("the translator") best describes
Tobias, which then meant both translation and knowledge of
tradition (masoret).

Works

With the exception of several liturgical poems (two of which
were included in the Karaite prayer book), Tobias' works con-
sist for the most part either of actual translations of works by
his teacher Joseph al-Basir from Arabic into Hebrew - Sefer
Ne'imoty i.e., Kitab al-Muhtawi ("Book of Melodies"); Sefer
Mahkimat Petiy i.e., Kitab al-Tamyiz (or al-Mansuri y "Book for
the Enlightenment of Fools"); and Sefer ha-Moladim y one of
eight chapters from Kitab al-Istibsar ("Book of Festivals") - or
of compilations of Arabic material from other "Jerusalemite
scholars" and its adaptation in Hebrew as the basis for Tobias'
original work. This applies to his philosophical treatise Meshi-
vatNefesh (extant in manuscript), and his halakhic commen-
tary, in many volumes, Sefer Ozar Nehmad le-Va-Yikra (only
the first part, on Lev. 1-10, has survived in manuscript; pas-
sages from it have been published by Neubauer, Poznahski,
Mann, and Ankori). In this case Tobias himself states (at the
end of the work) that his investigation is based "on Arabic
works which I would have rendered into Hebrew," particularly
on the Arabic commentaries of *David b. Boaz and * Japheth
b. Ali ha-Levi, tenth-century Karaite scholars.

Halakhic System

In the legal field, the term hdtakah (Ar. al-naql) denotes the
principle of tradition (precedence) in the determination of
law. Its original (i.e., Rabbanite) meaning naturally refers to
the Oral Law. But the tenth-century Karaite polemical writ-
ers, who borrowed this term from their Rabbanite opponents,
attributed to it, in accordance with the classic standpoint
adopted by this sect, two separate aspects and designated
them as follows: on the one hand, there is acknowledgment
of a hatakah which all regard as authoritative," i.e., the pro-
phetic tradition which has been preserved for posterity "in
the books and prophecies transcribed with the Torah in the
possession of Israel" (according to the definition of *Sahl b.

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOBIT, BOOK OF

Mazliah ha-Kohen in S. Pinsker (ed.), Likkutei Kadmoniyyot
(i860), 34); on the other, the authority of non-biblical tradi-
tion is rejected and it is laid down that "any hatakah which
has no support from Scripture is worthless" (Aaron b. Elijah
of Nicomedia, Gan Eden, 8b/c, and Elijah Bashyazi, Adderet
EliyahUy gd y 48c, 82b. All further citations are taken from the
latter source). The original version of Tobias' definitive trea-
tise on the theory of hatakah has not survived and its posi-
tion among his lost works is not known. However, its inher-
ent boldness and revolutionary consequences were perceived
by subsequent generations of scholars who preserved his text,
with slight linguistic changes, and interpreted it repeatedly as
they saw fit. In his endeavor to establish an intellectual and
legal criterion for compromise solutions necessitated by time
and place, Tobias recognized in both theory and practice the
positive and dynamic function of the principle of hatakah for
his contemporaries, as it was also understood by the Rabban-
ites. In order to mollify conservative Karaite opinion, Tobias
based this awareness on the fictitious assumption that all the
activities of the Karaites, even seeming innovations, must have
a foundation in and derive proof from Scripture, and "those
who say that hatakah exists without support from Scripture
merely show that they lack the intelligence to find its legal va-
lidity in the Tor ah."

At the same time as the Karaite concept of tradition was
in the process of being enriched, there existed in Karaism a
corresponding trend whereby the concept of "community"
(Heb. edah or kibbutz; Ar. al-ijma) was assimilated within
the comprehensive context of tradition. Thus Tobias' funda-
mentally broader concept of hatakah absorbed the ingredi-
ents of the Karaite principle of "consensus of the community,"
one of the earliest sectarian impediments to authoritative hal-
akhic initiative. On the strength of this twofold development,
hatakah (which Tobias also called kabbalah, i.e., chain of tra-
dition, while others called it sevel ha-yerushah, i.e., traditional
custom) was harnessed in its new context to the positive pro-
cess of later Karaite legislation. In the course of time hatakah
was to rise to the level of the two other fundaments of Kara-
ism, the Torah (Scripture) and comprehension (daat or anal-
ogy; hekkeshy Ar. al-qiyas), and even to become the leading
principle. It completely changed the attitude of the Karaites
toward the Talmud and its place in Jewish history, and ended
by paving the way to the radical reforms effected in Byzan-
tine-Turkish Karaism in the 15 th century.

bibliography: Z. Ankori, Karaites in Byzantium (1959), in-
dex; idem, in: Tarbiz, 25 (1957), 44-65; idem, in: paajr, 24 (1955), 1-38;
idem, in: jjs, 8 (1958), 79-81; idem, in: Essays... S.W. Baron (1959),
1-38; S. Poznariski, in: Ozar Yisrael y 5 (1911), 12-14; Mann, Texts, in-
dex; L. Nemoy, Karaite Anthology (1952), 124, 249, 380.

TOBIT, BOOK OF, one of the books of the *Apocrypha in-
cluded in the Septuagint and Vulgate in the canon.

It is the story of Tobit, an honest, upright man of the tribe
of Naphtali, who observed the precepts and was exiled to As-
syria by Shalmaneser (in?). When he came to the land of his

exile and the king of Assyria (Sennacherib) put many of the
Jewish exiles to death, Tobit endangered his own life by defy-
ing the royal decree and arranging for the burial of the victims.
His action came to the knowledge of the government and he
was compelled to go into hiding until Esarhadon ascended the
throne and *Ahikar, Tobit's nephew, was restored to his post
as the king's scribe. Tobit then resumed his beneficent activi-
ties. It happened that on one occasion, when he had returned
from burying an abandoned corpse, and lay down to sleep in
his courtyard, bird's droppings fell into his eyes and he became
blind. In his distress he remembered that some time before
he had lent his relative in Rages of Media ten talents of silver.
He therefore requested his son - called Tobias - to claim the
money. The young man went in the company of a guide. On
the way, as they passed the River Tigris, the guide advised him
to catch a fish and preserve its heart, liver, and gall. Later as
they passed Ecbatana in Media, the guide told him that his
kinsman Raguel (Reuel) dwelt there, and that he had an only
daughter, Sarah. She had already been married seven times,
but the bridegroom had died each time on the night of the
wedding, and according to the law of the Torah, since she
was the young Tobias' kinswoman she was bespoken to him
and not to a stranger. In order to drive away *Ashmedai, the
demon who slew the grooms, the guide advised him to burn
the heart and liver of the fish. Tobias did as ordered and was
successful. His father-in-law, who was glad to see him alive,
doubled the duration of the festivities from seven to 14 days.
Meanwhile the guide, who had gone to Rages to bring the debt,
came back, and they returned together to the home of Tobit
the elder. When they reached Nineveh the son smeared the
gall on his father's eyes, and his eyesight was restored. Tobit
wanted to pay the guide his hire, but then it became known
to him that the guide was none other than the angel Raphael,
one of the seven angels who carry up prayers to Heaven. The
aged Tobit, being aware that the end of Nineveh was near,
commanded his son to leave the city and to go to Media after
his father's death, which he did.

Various conjectures have been put forward with re-
gard to the source of the tale. In the past it was usual to give
the historical explanation that the story reflects the prohibi-
tion in some period against burying the dead, whether in the
Persian era, or the Greek (under Antiochus 1 v), or the Roman
(cf. Graetz; cf. Katznelson). However, the Roman era is much
too late (the book is now known from the Dead Sea scrolls);
there is even no reflection of the religious persecution of
Antiochus iv, nor has the story any visible connection with
the Persian custom of not burying the dead (moreover, its
author praises Media). In recent decades the conjecture has
gained acceptance that there is a connection between the
story and the widespread folkloristic motif of a young man
who saved a dead body from creditors who wanted to pre-
vent its burial, and was then rescued by the deceased's spirit
from mortal peril. The story of Tobit, however, does not speak
even of a single creditor but of people put to death because
of their devotion to burying the corpses of those executed

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOBIT, BOOK OF

by royal decree (as in the story of Antigone), and the bride
is not a legendary king's daughter, but a kinswoman bespo-
ken to her relative; nor is there mention of the many fabulous
deeds which characterize the folklore tale. Probably, what
the author really had in mind were the two popular "pre-
cepts," known from both the apocryphal and early talmudic
literature: the first that one is in duty bound (even if he be a
Nazirite or a high priest, who must keep away from any un-
cleanness) to bury a corpse found at random (met mitzvah y
"the burial of the dead that is a precept"); and the second that
there is special merit in marrying a kinswoman (cf. Tosef,
Kid. 1:4; tj, Naz. 7:1; and there are many stories of scholars
who did so).

The book itself appears to be as early as the Persian era.
It contains a prophecy on the building of Jerusalem, but there
is no allusion to the Hasmonean wars. It appears to have
been compiled in Media. To this the Iranian name "Ashme-
dai" (from Aeshma-Dawa) seems appropriate. There is also
the very fact that the whole story turns around descendants
of the ten tribes. From talmudic and other sources, it is clear
that until a very late period the ten tribes were believed to
thrive in Media and in the surrounding countries. Further-
more, in Babylonia (in a wide sense) more than in any other
place, they were concerned about the genealogical purity of
the Jews of the Exile. Moreover, and connecting of Tobit with
Ahikar shows that in that place and time Ahikar was a well-
known personality, which again lends support to the earlier
date. The book is regarded as the most artistic story of the
Apocrypha. Though dealing with various motifs, it retains a
simple style and character. The original language was either
Hebrew or Aramaic. Several fragments of the book were found
among the Qumran scrolls both in Hebrew and in Aramaic.
The Greek text is preserved in many versions, a long one (s)
which is attested to in the Qumran library, a short one (a
and b), and a third one, which is represented in many minus-
cules. Several Hebrew versions were preserved in the Middle
Ages, but they all seem to be later adaptations. A very short-
ened version of the tale found its way into the well-known
Midrash *Tanhuma.

[Yehoshua M. Grintz]

In the Arts

The books ethical message was congenial to the early Chris-
tian Reformers, notably Martin Luther (who recommended
Tobit as a subject for comedy). A pioneer of the drama in Swe-
den was the Lutheran writer and preacher Olaus Petri (Olof
Petterson), whose Tobiae Commedia appeared in 1550. Other
works of the period were a Danish play by Hieronymus Just-
esen Ranch of Viborg, the German Meister singer Hans Sachs'
comedy, Die gantz histori Tobie, Joerg Wickram's German
prose comedy, Tobias (1551), and a mystery staged at Lincoln
in 1564. These were followed by several more works in the
17 th century, but interest in the theme later waned, although
the 19 th century saw the appearance of Milovan Vidahoric's
Serbian epic, Mladi Tovija (1825). In recent times, however,
the subject has been revived in works such as James Bridie's

Tobias and the Angel (1931) and Gonzalo Torrente Ballester's
modern Spanish miracle play, El viaje deljoven Tobias (1938).
Bridie succeeded in revitalizing the Apocryphal story by in-
jecting humor and colloquial speech into his realistic inter-
pretation of the old theme.

In art there have been several cycles of works illustrating
the story of Tobias, such as the fourth-century sarcophagus of
St. Sebastian in the Appenine Way, Italy; 13 th - century carvings
at Chartres Cathedral; eight scenes in the Berlin Museum by
Pinturiccio or Giulio Bugiardini; and paintings by Francesco
Guardi for the Church of the Angel Raphael in Venice. The
story of Tobias particularly appealed to *Rembrandt: the blind
Tobit with his wife Anna (Tobit 2:11-14) is the subject of a me-
ticulous early Rembrandt in the Moscow Museum and of sev-
eral later works, including one in Berlin. These are studies of
humble Dutch interiors, with a soft light filtering through the
windows. There is also a painting by Rembrandt (Hermitage,
Leningrad) of the younger Tobias taking leave of his parents as
he sets out on his journey (5:17-22). Tobias and the angel (ch.
6) was a favorite subject in early Renaissance Italy. Merchants
sometimes had their sons painted as Tobias accompanied by
a guardian angel if they went away on business. The youth
would be shown dangling his fish, followed by a little dog. The
subject inspired paintings by Pollaiuolo (Pinacoteca, Turin);
Filippino Lippi (Bension Collection, London); a follower of
Verrochio (National Gallery, London); Botticelli (Academy,
Florence); and Perugino (National Gallery, London). In "The
Virgin with the Fish" by Raphael (Prado, Madrid), the kneel-
ing Tobias holding his fish is presented by the angel to the
Madonna. A painting by Rembrandt in the collection of the
duke of Arenberg, Brussels, of the restoration of Tobit's sight
(ch. 11) has been admired for the exactitude with which it de-
picts an operation for cataracts in the 17 th century; and one in
the Louvre shows the archangel Raphael taking leave of Tobit
and his family (12:16-22).

In music Tobit's song of praise, Magnus es Domine in ae-
ternum y is included among the Cantica of the Roman Cath-
olic rite, and sung to a simple psalmodic melody. In the 16 th
century, a motet, Domine deus patrum nostrorum y is found
among the works of the composer Jacobus Gallus (Handl),
and there is a Historia Tobiae in the manuscript of Hungar-
ian historico- biblical songs known as the Hofgreff Collection.
The subject was sometimes used for oratorios by minor 17 th -
century composers: a work often mentioned in the history
of the oratorio, Matthias Weckmann's dialogue Tobias und
Raquely was for long attributed to his better-known contem-
porary, Johann Rosenmueller (c. 1620-1684). More promi-
nent composers turned to the subject for oratorios in the
18 th century: Antonio Caldara (Tobia y text by Apostolo Zeno,
1720), Antonio Lotti (II ritorno di Tobia y Bologna, 1723), Georg
Reutter the Younger (II Ritorno di Tobia y Vienna, 1733), Jo-
seph Mysliveczek (1737-1781), and Baldassare Galuppi (1782).
The outstanding work of this period was Haydn's oratorio II
ritorno di Tobia (text by Giovanni Gastone Boccherini, written
in 1774-75). Haydn produced an augmented version in 1784 (a

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOBY, JACKSON

revised version was made by Sigismund Neukomm in 1806);
and the work is still occasionally performed, as is its overture.
A charming curiosity is Beethoven's jocular canon, O Tobias,
heiliger Tobias! (1823), addressed to his publisher and friend
Tobias Haslinger: according to the composer, he conceived the
canon in a reverie on a coach ride during which he dreamt
that he was transported to the Holy Land, felt very saintly,
and through further flights of association came to think of
"Saint" Tobit and his friends good qualities. In the 19 th cen-
tury, the subject was taken up by several French composers
in short succession, following upon Pierre-Louis Deffes' can-
tata (1847); Bizet (L'ange et Tobie, cantata, c. 1885-87, unfin-
ished, text by Leon *Halevy); Gounod (Tobie y small oratorio,
c. 1866, text by H. Lefevre); and E. Ortolan (another setting
of Halevy's libretto, 1867). Works of the 20 th century include
the opera Tobias and the Angel by Arthur Bliss (1959-60; text
by Christopher Hassall); and Darius *Milhaud's Invocation a
l'ange Raphael, a cantata in four parts for women's voices and
orchestra (text by Paul Claudel, published 1965).

[Bathja Bayer]

bibliography: X.L. Katzenelson, in: Ha-Tekufah, 25 (1929),
361-4; A. Kahana, Ha-Sefarim ha-Hizonim, 2 (1937), 291-311; Z.
Hirsch, Ha-Psychologyah be-Sifrutenu ha-Attikah (1957), 70-73; H.
Graetz, in: mgwj, 28 (1879), 145-63, 385-408, 433-55, 509-20; F.
Rosenthal, Vier apokryphische Buecher aus der Zeit und Schule R.
Akibas (1885), 104-50; F.C. Conybeare, J.R. Harris, and A.S. Lewis
(eds.), The Story of Ahikar (1913 2 ); E. Cosquin, in: rb, 8 (1899),
50-82; Charles, Apocrypha, 1 (1913), 174-201; M.M. Schumpp (tr.
and ed.), Das Buch Tobias (1933); A. Miller (tr. and ed.), Das Buch
Tobias (1940).

zur Stilkunde der Melodie (published as Melodielehre, Berlin,
1923). In 1929 he moved to Berlin, and in 1934 he settled in the
United States. From 1937 he lived in Hollywood and taught at
various universities. Though his earlier compositions show a
rather romantic style, he later turned to a more modern id-
iom and also experimented in compositions such as Gespro-
chene Musik (1930).

His music is strongly lyrical and shows a classical sense of
form; in piano compositions, his style is more brilliant. Tochs
works include four operas; orchestral works; chamber music;
incidental music for plays, films, and radio plays; and choral
works (including Cantata of the Bitter Herbs, a Passover ora-
torio, 1938). The overture to his opera Die Prinzessin auf der
Erbse (1926) is often played.

bibliography: mgg; Grove, Diet; Riemann-Gurlitt; Baker,

Biog Diet.

[Claude Abravanel]

TOCH, MAXIMILIAN (1864-1946), U.S. paint chemist.
Born in New York, Toch graduated in chemistry and law be-
fore entering his father s paint business. He became an expert
on the authenticity of paintings. He was professor of indus-
trial chemistry at Cooper Union, New York (1919), and pro-
fessor of the chemistry of artistic painting at the National
Academy of Design, New York (1924). During World War 1 he
invented the "Toch system" of camouflage. Among his books
are Chemistry and Technology of Mixed Paints (1907), How
to Paint Permanent Pictures (1922), and Paint, Paintings and
Restoration (1931).

TOBY, JACKSON (1925- ), U.S. criminologist and soci-
ologist. Toby received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in
1950. He taught at Brooklyn College, n.y., and at Harvard. He
then took on the position of professor of sociology at Rutgers
University, where he became chairman of the Sociology De-
partment in 1961. He specialized in problems of adolescence
and deviant behavior and was chief consultant to the Ford
Foundation youth development program (1959-63). In 1966
he prepared a report on "Affluence and Adolescent Crime" for
the Presidents Law Enforcement Commission. He served as
director of the Institute for Criminological Research at Rut-
gers from 1969 to 1994. His subsequent research focused on
undergraduate education and the causes of and remedies for
school violence.

His publications include Social Problems in America
(with Harry C. Bredemeier, i960); Contemporary Society: So-
cial Process and Social Structure in Urban Industrial Societies
(1964); The Evolution of Societies (with T Parsons, 1977); and
Higher Education as an Entitlement (2005).

TOCH, ERNST (1887-1967), composer. Born in Vienna, Toch
studied medicine and philosophy and was self-taught in mu-
sic. After studying piano with Rehberg, he became a teacher of
composition at the Mannheim Hochschule fuer Musik (1913).
In 1921 he received his Ph.D. with the dissertation Beitraege

TOCHNER, MESHULLAM (1912-1966), Israeli literary
critic. Born in the Ukraine, Tochner was taken to Bessarabia
by his family during World War 1. In 1925 he went to Palestine,
settling in Jerusalem. He taught at the Teachers' Seminary of
Beit ha-Kerem, Jerusalem.

He published literary research articles in Israel's news-
papers, literary periodicals, and anthologies, and in the ju-
bilee volumes for S. Y *Agnon. Tochner was one of the most
perceptive critics and interpreters of Agnon's works; Pesher
Agnon (1968), a collection of his essays on Agnon, with the
addition of critical remarks by D. Sadan, was published post-
humously.

bibliography: S.Y. Agnon et al., ( Al Meshullam Tochner

(1967).

[Getzel Kressel]

TODD, MIKE (Avrom Hirsch Goldbogen; 1909-1958),
U.S. producer and impresario. Born in Minneapolis, Minne-
sota, Todd was the son of a Polish-born rabbi. He produced
21 shows on Broadway, largely light musicals. These include
Call Me Ziggy (1937); The Hot Mikado (1939); Star and Garter
(1942); Something for the Boys (1943); Mexican Hayride (1944);
Up in Central Park (1945); As the Girls Go (1948); Michael
Todds Peep Show (1950); and The Live Wire (1950). His produc-
tion of the tragedy Hamlet (1945), starring Maurice Evans, set

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOHOROT

the record at the time for the longest run of any Shakespear-
ean play on Broadway (131 performances).

Todd was a financial promoter of two motion picture
filming innovations, Cinerama and Todd-AO, the latter of
which he codeveloped. Cinerama was introduced to film au-
diences in 1952 with the stomach-churning This Is Cinerama.
Todd-AO was introduced in 1955 with the wide-screen film
Oklahoma! In 1956 Todd made the $6.5 million film of Jules
Verne's Around the World in 80 Days (Academy Award win-
ner for Best Picture) which, by the time of his death in a plane
crash, had grossed $33 million.

Of his three marriages, the second and third were to the
film actresses Joan Blondell (from 1947 to 1950) and Elizabeth
Taylor (from 1957 until his death).

bibliography: A. Cohn, The Nine Lives of Michael Todd
(1959); Liz Taylor, M. Todd Jr., and S. Todd McCarthy, A Valuable
Property: The Life Story of Michael Todd (1983).

[Ruth Beloff (2 nd ed.)]

TODESCO, HERMANN (1791-1844), Austrian industrialist
and philanthropist. Todesco was born in Pressburg (Bratislava)
to Babette, nee Pick, of Breslau, and Aaron Hirschl Wellisch
(Welsche) of Pressburg, a silk merchant, who acquired the
surname Todesco after numerous trips to Italy (tedesco is Ital-
ian for "German"). In 1789 he was included in the list of Jews
permitted to reside in Vienna. Hermanns business abilities
soon brought him appreciable wealth and position. He was
an efficient military contractor and established one of the first
cotton mills in Marienthal (near Vienna), introducing mod-
ern machines and methods from abroad. In 1835 he bought
an estate in Legnaro, Italy, where he planted mulberry trees
for raising silk worms. Todesco was one of the founders of the
Vienna temple in 1826 and was distinguished by his munificent
philanthropic activities. He donated a school to the Pressburg
community, made a magnificent bequest for a Jewish hospital
in Baden, and gave large sums to the Vienna Jewish commu-
nity to develop handicrafts. Shortly before his death he was
nominated a member of the Kollegium of the community and
opened a public kitchen for the poor. Hermann's banking firm
was managed after his death by two of his seven children, Ed-
uard (1814-1887) and Moritz (1816-1873). Eduard continued
his father's philanthropic policies by establishing generous
foundations to help needy army officers and impoverished
Jewish students.

bibliography: B. Wachstein, Die ersten Statuten (1926),

index; C. Von Wurzbach, Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums

Oesterreich, s.v.

[Albert Lichtblau (2 nd ed.)]

TOEPLITZ, OTTO (1881-1940), German mathematician.
Toeplitz was professor of mathematics at Kiel (1920) and Bonn
(1928-35) until his dismissal by the Nazis. He immigrated to
Palestine in 1939 and held an administrative post at the He-
brew University. He contributed to many branches of research
in pure mathematics; his main interest was in matrix algebra.

He wrote Von Zahlen und Figuren (1930) and published arti-
cles on Plato's mathematical ideas in Quellen und Studien zur
Geschichte der Mathematik, Astronomie und Physik y a periodi-
cal which he helped found.

TOHORAH (Heb. Hint?; "cleansing," "purification"), the
ceremony of washing the dead before burial, performed by
mitassekim ("attendants"), members of the *hevra kaddisha.
The body is laid on a special tohorah board, the feet toward the
door to indicate the escape of the impurity. While the body is
undressed, thoroughly rubbed and cleansed with lukewarm
water, the mitassekim recite biblical verses (Zech. 3:4; Ezek.
36:25; Song 5:11, etc.). Then the head and the front part of the
body are rubbed with a beaten egg, a symbol of the perpetual
wheel of life. (This part of the ceremony is only observed now-
adays in very Orthodox circles.) Thereafter, "nine measures"
(9 "/cav," 4 x /2 gallons) of water are poured over the body while
it is held in an upright position. This process is the essential
part of the tohorah ceremony. The body is then thoroughly
dried and dressed in shrouds. The tohorah rite for great rab-
bis and scholars, called rehizah gedolah ("great washing"), is
more elaborate. "Nine measures" of water are used several
times: the body may even be immersed in a mikveh ("ritual
bath"). This custom, however, was strongly opposed by lead-
ing rabbis because it discouraged women from attending the
mikveh. In addition to the washing of the body, the hair is
combed and the fingernails and toenails are cut (Sh. Ar., yd
352:4). The basis for tohorah is in Ecclesiastes 5:15, "as he came,
so shall he go" (meaning: as when man is born, he is washed,
so too when he dies, he is washed; Sefer Hasidim y ed. by R.
Margaliot (1957), no. 560). The ceremony of tohorah, as well
as all other burial details, is not mentioned in the Bible. At the
burial of kings, however, sweet odorous spices were used (11
Chron. 16:14) and the Tombs of the Kings in Jerusalem have
a bath below the entrance to the courtyard, which may have
been built either for cleansing the dead or for the ritual use of
priests. Tohorah was observed in mishnaic times, as can be de-
rived from the statement that limited washing and anointing
of the body is permitted on the Sabbath (Shab. 23:5). Talmudic
literature mentions the cleansing of the body with myrtle and
the cutting of the hair of the deceased (cf. Bezah 6a; mk 8b).
Tohorah for women is performed by the female members of
the hevra kaddisha. After tohorahy the attendants clean their
hands with salted water. Most traditional cemeteries have a
special annex to the cemetery called bet tohorah ("cleansing
house"). In recent times, however, tohorah is generally per-
formed at the mortuary of hospitals (or by the undertaker).
*Reform Judaism has discarded the ritual of tohorah.

bibliography: S. Baer, Tozeot Hayyim (Heb. and Ger., 1900),
99-102 (Heb. pt.); J.M. Tukaczinsky, Gesher ha-Hayyim, 1 (i960 2 ),
94-100; M. Lamm, Jewish Way in Death and Mourning (1969), 6-7,
242-5; H. Rabinowicz, A Guide to Life (1964), 38-39.

TOHOROT (Heb. mint?; lit. "cleannesses"), the last of the six
orders of the Mishnah, according to the traditional arrange-

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOHOROT

ment mentioned in the homily of *Simeon b. Lakish (Shab.
31a), but the fifth order according to R. *Tanhuma (Num. R.
13:15). Tohorot discusses the halakhot of the different catego-
ries of ritual purity and impurity.

It contains 12 tractates, arranged in descending order
according to the number of chapters: *Kelim, containing 30
chapters, on vessels susceptible to impurity; *Oholot, 18 chap-
ters, on ritual impurity arising from the overshadowing of a
dead person; *Negdim, 14 chapters, on uncleanness relating
to leprosies; *Parah, 12 chapters, on the *red heifer; *Tohorot,
ten chapters, mainly on conditions rendering foods unclean;
*Mikvabt, ten chapters, on the pools for ritual immersion;
*Niddah, ten chapters, on uncleanness relating to the men-
struant; *Makhshirim, six chapters, on the fluids rendering
food susceptible to becoming ritually impure; *Zavim, five
chapters, on uncleannesss from gonorrhea; *Tevul Yom, four
chapters, on uncleanness, lasting until the sunset, of one who
has gone through ritual immersion during the day; *Yadayim,
four chapters, on the uncleanness of unwashed hands and
their purification; and *Ukzin, three chapters, on the unclean-
ness transferred by the stalks or husks of fruits or plants - 126
chapters in all. Because of its length, some divided Kelim into
three bavot ("gates"), namely Bava Kamma, Bava Mezia, and
Bava Batra, each containing ten chapters, as was done with
*Nezikin (see *Bava Kamma). In the Tosefta of Tohorot, Ke-
lim Bava Kamma has seven chapters, Kelim Bava Mezia 11,
and Kelim Bava Batra, seven chapters; Oholot has 18, Nega'im
nine, Parah 12, Niddah nine, Mikvabt seven (or eight), To-
horot 11, Makhshirim three, Zavim five, Yadayim two, Tevul
Yom two, and Ukzin three chapters. Apart from the tractate
Niddah, Tohorot has no Gemara in either the Jerusalem or
Babylonian Talmud.

bibliography: Epstein, Mishnah, 98off.; H. Albeck (ed.),
Shishah Sidrei Mishnah, Seder Tohorot (1959), 9f.

[Abraham Arzi]

TOHOROT (Heb. niintp; lit. "cleannesses"), fifth tractate in
the order of the same name according to the enumeration in
the standard Mishnah. According to *Hai Gaon it is the sev-
enth. It is also the seventh in the Tosefta, if the three sections
into which Kelim is divided there are counted as one.

The name tohorot ("ritual cleannesses") is actually a eu-
phemism for tumot ("ritual uncleannesses") since Tohorot
deals essentially with the rules of the lesser degrees of un-
cleanness, effects of which last until sunset only. It details the
laws of cleanness and uncleanness regarding foodstuffs and
liquids, persons engaged in their preparation or consumption,
and vessels employed in the process.

Chapter 1 begins with the 13 regulations concerning the
carrion of clean birds, and those relating to unclean birds and
cattle. It continues with a discussion of the extent to which
foodstuffs of major and minor grades of uncleanness may be
combined to form the prescribed minima. Also discussed are
the conditions under which the same or different grades of
uncleanness maybe conveyed to a number of loaves or pieces

of dough that cling to one another. Chapter 2 discusses un-
cleanness that may be conveyed to wet or dry *terumah by
the hands of clean and unclean persons, the various grades
of uncleanness a person may contract through eating, and the
resultant uncleanness of foodstuff in contact with other food-
stuff possessing various grades of uncleanness. Chapter 3 deals
with the grades of uncleanness and minimum amounts appli-
cable to foodstuffs capable of changing their state of fluidity
to one of solidity and vice versa. Also discussed is the clean-
ness or uncleanness of those objects whose bulk is increased
or decreased by weather conditions. The chapter concludes
with an exposition of doubtful uncleanness, and this contin-
ues to the end of chapter 4 which deals with cases of doubtful
uncleanness as a result of which terumah is to be burned, and
doubtful instances that are finally regarded as clean. Chapters
5 and 6 are mainly concerned with doubtful cases of unclean-
ness in which a distinction is made between location in a pri-
vate domain and location in a public domain. In the former,
all doubtful cases are declared unclean, while in the latter, they
are considered clean. Also discussed are instances in which
both a private and public domain are involved. Chapter 7 dis-
cusses forms of doubtful uncleanness which result from the
presence of an *am ha-arez or his wife. Chapter 8 concludes
the discussion regarding the am ha-arez. Rules regarding the
stages when foodstuffs begin and cease to be susceptible to
uncleanness are next specified. A discussion concerning the
uncleanness of beverages concludes the chapter. Chapters 9
and 10 conclude the tractate with the regulations concerning
the stages at which olives become susceptible to uncleanness,
and the laws of cleanness and uncleanness that apply to an
olive-press and a winepress. The Tosefta to this tractate is di-
vided into 11 chapters. Since there is no Gemara to Tohorot,
the Tosefta is extremely valuable for the elucidation of many
difficult passages in the Mishnah. All the commentators there-
fore made extensive use of the Tosefta in their explanations
of the Mishnah. The Tosefta does not totally correspond to
the Mishnah. It does not contain any laws that correspond to
Mishnah 1:1-4 or 2:1. Tosefta 4:1-4 includes material which is
not contained in the Mishnah. It was translated into English
by H. Danby (The Mishnah, 1933), and J. Neusner published a
translation of both the Mishnah (1991) and the Tosefta (2002)
of Tohorot.

add. bibliography: Strack-Stemberger, Introduction to
the Talmud and Midrash (1996), 117; Epstein, The Gaonic Commen-
tary on the Order Toharot (Hebrew) (1982); S. Lieberman, Tosefet
Rishonim, vol. 3 (1939); J. Neusner, A History of the Mishnaic Laws
of Purities (1974-77), vols. 11-12; idem, From Mishnah to Scripture
(1984), 67-71; idem, The Mishnah Before yo (1987), 171-178; idem,
The Philosophical Mishnah, 3 (1989), 207-20; idem, Purity in Rab-
binic Judaism (1994), 74-79-

[Aaron Rothkoff]

TOHOROT HA-KODESH, an important work of ethical lit-
erature. First printed in Amsterdam in 1733, this anonymous
work has been wrongly attributed to Benjamin Wolf b. Mat-
tathias. The error arose from the fact that Benjamins name

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOKER, ELIAHU

is mentioned on the title page, not as the author but as the
person who brought the work to the press, and, it seems, col-
lected the funds necessary to finance the printing. According
to his introduction, the author chose to remain anonymous
in order to avoid pride of authorship, and probably also be-
cause of the harsh criticism of contemporary rabbis, institu-
tions, and customs contained in the work. The original title
of the work, the introduction indicates, was Hanhagot Yesha-
rot ("Right Ways of Behavior"). Evidence in the book shows
that the author was from Poland, and in the work he occa-
sionally compares the customs of Eastern Europe with those
of the Orient. It seems that the author was poor, wandered
from place to place, and knew Russian. I. Halpern attempted
to prove that the author lived in Poland during the *Chmiel-
nicki persecutions (1648-49), which left a deep impression on
him, and that he finished the work a decade or two later. B.Z.
Dinur and D. Tamar, however, hold that the work was prob-
ably written in the first decade of the 18 th century. The later
date is somewhat more credible in view of the historical and
biographical facts recorded in the work itself. The writer, a Lu-
rianic kabbalist like most authors of ethical works at that time,
divided the book into six parts: (1) daily behavior, including
the proper way to study at night and to perform the morning
rites; (2) synagogue and prayer; (3) business and ethics, and
the necessity to study and pray even while attending to daily
tasks; (4) evening rites; (5) behavior during Sabbath and fes-
tivals; and (6) all aspects of social conduct. Social criticism
holds a central place in this work. Ethical literature s preoccu-
pation with just social behavior as the supreme religious goal is
clearly presented, especially in the criticism of contemporary
rabbis. In fact, the author emphasizes that right social behav-
ior takes precedence over study of the To rah. Dinur included
Tohorot ha-Kodesh among those East European ethical works
which anticipated modern Hasidism and carried some of its
social and religious message.

bibliography: B. Dinur, Be-Mifneh ha-Dorot (1955), index; I.
Halpern, in: ks, 34 (1959), 495-98 (=Yehudim ve-Yahadut be-Mizrah
Eiropah (1968), 396-400); D. Tamar, in: Aresheth, 3 (1961), 166-72
(= Mehkarim be-Toledot ha-Yehudim (1970), 131-7).

TOKAT, capital city of the province bearing the same name
in northern Anatolia, situated on the banks of the Yesil Irmak.
The community was founded by Jews from *Amasya in 1530.
After the Amasya blood libel in 1553, most of them returned
to Amasya in 1565. During the Ottoman period there existed
a small Jewish community in Tokat. Tokat then was also the
scene of a blood libel, instigated by Armenians; as a result of
an intervention by Moses *Hamon, Sultan ^Suleimans chief
physician, the Jews were able to prove their innocence. In
the 16 th century Jewish silk merchants traveled via Tokat to
*Aleppo and ^Persia. A document from 1574/75 noted 29 Jew-
ish households and 27 Jewish bachelors in the community.
The traveler Tevernier visited the city in the 17 th century, but
wrote only about Muslims, Christians, and Armenians who
lived there. Yet it is known that R. Zemach Narvoni lived in

Tokat in 1642, and we can assume that there existed an orga-
nized Jewish community. Hebron emissaries R. Moshe Halevi
Nazir and R. Yosef Hacohen visited Tokat between the years
1668 and 1671 and 1675-1677. The latter spent a short time in
Tokat in 1684 when he traveled to many communities to col-
lect money for himself. At the beginning of the 18 th century
the Shabbatean Hayyim Malach met *Shabbetai Zevi on his
way from Bursa to Tokat. At that time Rabbi Joseph ben Mor-
dechai from * Jerusalem lived in the city. At the beginning of
the 19 th century about 100 families lived in the community;
by 1927 only 20 families were left. There are two Jewish cem-
eteries and an old synagogue, where a *genizah was found.
Jews originally handled the town's commerce, but they were
gradually replaced by the Armenians who used more up-to-
date methods and mastered the foreign languages required for
the export-import trade. As a result of this, the Jewish com-
munity scattered.

bibliography: A. Galante, Histoire des Juifs d'Anatolie, 2
(1939), 289-92; Rosanes, Togarmah, 2 (1937-38), 135-6. add. bibli-
ography: A. Yaari, Shelohei, 373, 416, 469-70; Tevernier, Voyages
de Perse, 1, 90; M. Benveniste, Responsa Penei Moshe, 1 (1971), no. 33;
U. Heyd, in: Sefunot, 5 (1961), 135-50; M. Benayahu, in: Sefunot, 14
(1971-78), 92, 248; M.A. Epstein, The Ottoman Jewish Communities
and Their Role in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries (1980), 277; H.
Gerber, Yehudei ha-lmperiyah ha-Otmanit ba-Mebt ha-Shesh Esrei ve-
ha-Sheva Esrei: Hevrah ve-Kalkalah (1983), 47, 69, 159.

[Abraham Haim / Leah Bornstein-Makovetsky (2 nd ed.)]

TOKER, ELIAHU (1934- ), Argentinean writer, poet, trans-
lator, and researcher in Jewish literature and lore. The scope
and spirit of his works are oriented both to Jewish traditions of
the past, and to the building of a contemporary Jewish-Latin
American identity. His eight books of poetry include Lejaim
("To Life," 1974); Piedra de par en par ("Wide Open Stone,"
1974); Padretierra ("Fatherearth," 1977); Homenaje a Abraxas
("Homage to Abraxas," 1980); Papa, mama y otras ciudades
("Dad, Mom and Other Cities," 1988); and Las manos del si-
lencio ("The Hands of Silence," 2003). His translations include
valuable anthologies such as the following: from Yiddish - El
resplandor de la palabra judia: antologia depoesia idish del si-
gh xx ("The Radiance of the Jewish Word: Anthology of 20 th
Century Yiddish Poetry," 1981); Poesia de Avrom Sutzkever
("Poetry by Avrom Sutzkever," 1983); El idish es tambien Lati-
noamerica ("Yiddish is also Latin America," 2003); from He-
brew - El Cantor de los Cantares ("The Song of Songs," 1984);
Pirke Avot ("The Sayings of the Fathers," 1988), and antholo-
gies of kabbalistic, talmudic, and rabbinical texts. He also pub-
lished critical editions of the Argentinean Jewish writers Cesar
Tiempo, Carlos M. Griinberg, and Alberto Gerchunoff; col-
lections of Jewish proverbs and jokes; and volumes devoted to
the Holocaust and to the victims of the attack on the Buenos
Aires Jewish Community building in 1994. His poems have
been translated into Yiddish, Hebrew, French, German, and
Portuguese. Toker received several awards in Argentina and
Mexico. He was also active in Jewish cultural and community

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOKHEHAH

life in Argentina, and participated in national and interna-
tional conferences on Jewish Latin American issues.

bibliography: D.B. Lockhart, Jewish Writers of Latin Amer-
ica. A Dictionary (1997); R. Di Antonio and N. Glickman, Tradition
and Innovation: Reflection on Latin American Jewish Writing (1993);
P. Finzi et al., El imaginario judio en la literatura de America Latina:
vision y realidad (1992).

[Florinda F. Goldberg (2 nd ed.)]

TOKHEHAH (Heb. nrDln; lit. "reproof"), the name given
to the two comminatory passages in the Pentateuch (Lev.
26:14-45; Deut. 28:15-68). The Mishnah referred to them as
the "chapters of curses" and they were designated as the To rah
reading for fast days. These sections must not be divided, but
must be read by one person (Meg. 3:6, 31b). In order to begin
and end with more favorable sentences (Meg. 31b; tj, Meg.
3:8, 74b), the reading is commenced before the curses and
concluded after them (e.g., Lev. 26:10-46; Deut. 28:7-69). The
Deuteronomy chapter was considered the more severe since it
contains no verses of consolation and is written in the present
tense. The public reading of these passages on their appropri-
ate Sabbaths generated fear among the listeners, and it there-
fore became customary for the reader to recite them quickly in
a low voice. People were reluctant to be called to the Torah for
these portions. In some communities it became customary to
give this ally ah to poor people who could not afford to pledge
donations for the more desirable aliyot. The person was not
called up by his name, but the sexton simply said "May any-
one who wishes rise to the Torah" (Rema to Sh. Ar. 428:6). It
later became the general practice for the sexton or the reader
of the Torah to accept this aliyah. However, in some commu-
nities, the rabbis insisted on receiving these aliyot to demon-
strate that the word of the Torah need not be feared.

[Aaron Rothkoff ]

TOKYO, city in * Japan. Jewish history, culture, and religion
were generally unknown to the Japanese of Tokyo before the
end of World War 1. Although the city had been designated the
imperial capital in 1868, Jews who took up residence in Japan
before World War 1 settled in the great port cities of *Kobe,
* Yokohama, and ^Nagasaki. Acquaintance with things Jewish
was largely limited to Christian missionaries and their con-
verts. This state of affairs changed somewhat after 1918 when
a small number of Jews fleeing from the Bolshevik revolution
in Russia made their homes in Tokyo, and many Japanese en-
countered Jews and witnessed antisemitism during Japans
military expedition in Siberia (1918-22). During the 1920s a
handful of Japanese antisemites founded organizations and en-
gaged in publication, mostly in Tokyo, but their work was gen-
erally ineffectual. With the spread of Nazism in Germany and
the drift of Japan after 1932 toward closer relations with Hitler,
professional antisemites - military and civilian - attempted
with little success to spread their message of hatred among the
Japanese people. When Japan surrendered to the allied pow-
ers in 1945, Tokyo soon emerged as a center of Jewish life and

activity in Japan. Many of the Jews who helped to stimulate
a wide variety of Jewish activities were among the thousands
of American troops stationed in Tokyo during the American
occupation of Japan (1945-52). The civilian Jewish community
grew slowly during and after this period as hundreds of Jews,
mainly from the United States and Western Europe, settled
in the city for professional and commercial purposes. Jewish
life gravitated toward the Tokyo Jewish Center which was es-
tablished and maintained by the local community. In the late
1950s some American Jews studied briefly the feasibility of
"missionary" work in Japan, especially in Tokyo, but the idea
was soon abandoned. A Jewish community, supplemented by
a steady stream of temporary residents from abroad, contin-
ued to exist in Japans capital city. In 1971 there were approxi-
mately 300 Jews living in the city. In the first years of the 21 st
century the permanent Jewish population of Tokyo amounted
to fewer than 200 people, though the transient Jewish pop-
ulation brought the total up to somewhat fewer than 1,000.
These included representatives of businesses and financial in-
stitutions, as well as journalists and students, mostly from the
U.S. and Israel. The Jewish community center houses the only
synagogue in Japan as well as a school (with classes twice a
week up to the eighth grade), a library, and a mikveh.

bibliography: S. Mason, Our Mission to the Far East (1918);

J. Nakada, Japan in the Bible (1933); I. Cohen, in: East and West, 2

(1922), 239-40, 267-70, 652-4; H. Dicker, Wanderers and Settlers in

the Far East (1962), incl. bibl.

[Hyman Kublin]

°TOLAND, JOHN (1670-1722), Irish-born deist, active in
the theological and political controversies in England at the
beginning of the 18 th century. Toland was born in County
Donegal, supposedly the illegitimate son of a Roman Catho-
lic priest. At the age of 16 he rejected Catholicism, became a
Presbyterian, and studied at Scottish universities. A friend of
John Locke, he eventually became a Deist and, later, a Panthe-
ist. Among his many publications was Reasons for Naturalising
the Jews in Great Britain and Ireland on the Same Footing with
All Other Nations (anonymously published in London in 1714,
reprinted 1939). This was not as has frequently been stated a
plea for the naturalization of the Jews, but for facilitating the
naturalization of foreign-born Jews and thereby attracting
them to England. The economic and philosophic arguments
that Toland used to demonstrate the utility of the Jews to the
country showed a tolerance in advance of his day. Toland also
translated into English The Agreement of the Customs of the
East Indians with Those of the Jews (London, 1705).

bibliography: Dubnow, Weltgesch, 7 (1928), 520-3; Roth,
Mag Bib, 213, 380; Wiener, in: huca, 16 (1941), 215-42; A. Cohen, An-
glo-Jewish Scrapbook (1943), 336-7; J. Toland, Gruende fuer die Ein-
buergerung der Juden in Grossbritannien und Irland, ed. and tr. by H.
Mainusch (Eng. and Ger., 1965), incl. bibl.; Barzilay, in: jss, 21 (1969),
75-81. add. bibliography: odnb online; S.H. Daniel, John To-
land: His Methods, Manners, and Mind (1984); R.E. Sullivan, John To-
land and the Deist Controversy (1982); Katz, England, 234-36.

[Cecil Roth]

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOLEDANO

TOLANSKY, SAMUEL (1907-1973), English physicist and
world authority on optics and spectroscopy. Tolansky was
born in Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, to Russian parents. He
received his education in Newcastle and at the Imperial Col-
lege in London, where he was appointed assistant lecturer in
physics in 1934. He subsequently held various appointments
at Manchester University, where he conducted important re-
search work in the field of atomic energy during World War 11.
He joined the Royal Holloway College of London University
in 1947, becoming professor of physics. He became a fellow of
the Royal Society in 1952.

Tolansky was a principal investigator for the American
nasa lunar research project, and was one of the first group
of scientists chosen to examine and evaluate the dust brought
back by the Apollo moon astronauts. His prediction in 1969
that the moon is covered with glasslike marbles was verified
a year later. Tolansky wrote a large number of works in his
special field, many of which were translated into Russian,
German, Japanese, and other languages. They include Opti-
cal Illusions (1964); Curiosities of Light Rays and Light Waves
(1964); Interference Microscopy for the Biologist (1968); The
Strategic Diamond (1968); Microstructures of Surfaces (1968);
and Revolution in Optics (1968). He also published over 300
scientific papers.

Keenly interested in Jewish affairs, Tolansky was an ac-
tive member of the academic advisory council of the cultural
department of the World Jewish Congress, and was generally
associated with Israeli scientific institutions. He was also a vice
president of the British Technion society. He visited Israel on
a number of occasions, delivering scientific lectures and ad-
vising on scientific affairs.

[Michael Wallach]

TOLEDANO, family of rabbis and hakhamim which origi-
nated in Toledo, *Spain. After the expulsion from Spain in
1492, the Toledanos were to be found in Safed, Salonika, and
Morocco. According to a family tradition, they arrived in Fez
during the 16 th century from Salonika, and from there went
to Meknes and became leaders of the community from the
16 th century until the present day. They were prominent in
the community in religious affairs, producing renowned rab-
bis and poets who enriched the literature of Moroccan Jewry
with their works and greatly influenced the western commu-
nities, particularly those of Meknes, Sale, Tangier, and even
Gibraltar; in political affairs, producing men who served as
ministers and counselors to kings and were entrusted with
diplomatic missions; and in economic affairs, producing out-
standing merchants who developed and maintained varied
commercial relations with European countries which con-
tributed to the economic progress of Morocco.

(1) daniel ben Joseph (c. 1570-1640) arrived in Fez
from Salonika with his sons (2) h ayyim and (3) Joseph, from
whom the two principal lines of the family branched out. He
is described in sources as the "head of the yeshivah of Fez"
and as the "head of the Castilian scholars."

(2) Hayyim's sons were (4) habib (d. c. 1660) and

(5) daniel (1600-1670?). The former was rabbi and nagid
in Meknes and was referred to as He-Hasid ("the Pious").
He was a signatory to a takkanah of 1640, whose efficacy he
strengthened by securing for it a royal order. The latter was
a rabbi and legal authority in Meknes. (3) Josephs sons were

(6) daniel (d. c. 1680) and (7) baruch (d. 1685). The former
was a rabbi and dayyan in Meknes and counselor of Moulay
Ismail together with his colleague Joseph *Maymeran. He
fought Shabbateanism with R. Aaron ha-Sab c uni and his son-
in-law R. Jacob *Sasportas, and he signed legal decisions to-
gether with (9) R. Hayyim b. Habib (see below). Baruch (7)
was a rabbi in Meknes, father of seven sons, including (8)
moses, the father of four hakhamim.. Among Baruch's other
sons were (16) Hayyim and (17) Abraham, leading merchants
who traded with the royal family.

(9) HAYYIM BEN HABIB HE-HASID (d. C. l68o), rabbi

and kabbalist, copied kabbalistic and ethical works, includ-
ing Yerah Yakar of R. Abraham Galante which was brought to
him by the emissary Elisha Ashkenazi - the father of Nathan
of Gaza - and Shaarei Hokhmah of an Ashkenazi author, thus
contributing to their circulation in the West. It is almost cer-
tain that he fought the Shabbatean movement, as did his rela-
tive Daniel, with whom he shared the position of dayyan. He
maintained contact with R. Aaron ha-Sab c uni and copied the
marginal notes of the latter s copy of the Shulhan Arukh. One
of his daughters married R. Abraham Berdugo and was the
mother of R. Moses Berdugo ("ha-MaSHBIR"), and the other
married R. (8) Moses b. Baruch (see above) and gave birth to
R. (18) Hayyim ("MaHaRHaT") and R. (21) Jacob Toledano
("MaHaRIT"). Hayyim (9) signed legal decisions together
with his relative Daniel. His son (10) moses (1643-1723) was
the leading rabbi of Meknes and corresponded on halakhic
questions with R. Menahem *Serero, R. Vidal ha-*Sarfati, and
others. Some of his responsa and legal decisions were pub-
lished in the works of Moroccan hakhamim. He held rabbin-
ical office together with his brother (11) habib (1658-1716).
The latter corresponded extensively with the hakhamim of
Fez. R. Judah (1660-1729), a scholar of Meknes, was known
as a great talmudist.

(12) JOSEPH TOLEDANO BEN DANIEL (b) (d. C. 1700)

was also a counselor of the Moroccan king Moulay Ismail,
who sought to develop foreign trade and exchange Christian
captives for arms as well as for other goods. He sent Joseph to
the Netherlands to conduct negotiations which would lead to
a peace treaty and a commercial agreement between the two
countries. His mission was successful and the treaty was rati-
fied in 1683. In 1688 Joseph presented his credentials as Moroc-
can ambassador to the States General. The presence in Holland
of his brother-in-law Jacob Sasportas obviously assisted him in
the fulfillment of his mission. His brother (13) hayyim tole-
dano (d. c. 1710), also a royal counselor, accompanied him on
the mission. Once the treaty was ratified in the Netherlands,
he returned to Meknes and together with the nagid Abra-
ham Maymeran convinced the king to accept its conditions

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOLEDANO

TOLEDANO FAMILY

DANIEL

b. JOSEPH
TOLEDANO

c. 1570-1640

2. HAYYIM

3. JOSEPH

17. ABRAHAM
4 others

and sign. In 1690, when a crisis between the two countries
appeared imminent, he traveled to the Netherlands and suc-
ceeded in renewing the treaty, afterward convincing the king
to accept the conditions of the treaty. (14) moses toledano
(d. c. 1725) was one of the favorites at the court. Together with
the nagid Abraham Maymeran, he traded with the European
countries, especially in firearms. In 1699 he traveled to the
Netherlands and submitted complaints to the States General
concerning his dealings with them. He won his suit and was
awarded considerable compensation.

(15) daniel toledano (d. c. 1740), son of (13) Hayyim,
traded, together with his father, in the Netherlands and other
European countries. He dealt mainly in wax and was known
as "one of the country's magnates." In about 1720, after the
death of his father, he was arrested by the king. The king con-
fiscated his family's belongings in payment for his debt, in-
cluding (18) R. Hayyim Toledano's property, thus bankrupt-
inghim. (16) hayyim toledano ben baruch (d. c. 1715), a

wealthy merchant, was associated with his brother (17) Abra-
ham in various business transactions and was a favorite of
the royal family. He died childless and bequeathed his es-
tate to (18) R. Hayyim (MaHaRHaT; see below), the son
of his brother (8) Moses. (19) eliezer toledano ben r.
judah (d. c. 1730) was among the wealthiest Moroccan mer-
chants and a member of the circle of negidim which included
Abraham Maymeran and Moses ibn Attar. Together with
Maimon Toledano, he leased the meat tax of the commu-
nity. He was the father of (20) R. Solomon (MaHaRshaT; see

below). (18) HAYYIM TOLEDANO BEN MOSES BEN BARUCH

(MaHaRHaT; 1690-1750), rabbi in Meknes, became wealthy
after he inherited his uncle Hayyim's fortune. He wrote some
legal decisions which were published in Fez under the title
Hok u-Mishpat ("Law and Judgment," 1931).

His brother (21) r. jacob toledano (MaHaRIT; 1697-
1771) was a prominent rabbi in Meknes and a disciple of R.
Moses Berdugo, holding rabbinical office for 50 years. He was

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOLEDANO, JACOB MOSES

the most important halakhic authority in the Maghreb during
the second half of the 18 th century and played a central role
in the leadership of his community. A crisis occurred in the
relations between himself and his community in 1764, but
the difficulties were settled and he continued to serve the
community He wrote a commentary on the Torah, a com-
mentary to Rashi on the Torah, a work on the Shulhan Arukh,
novellae on the Talmud, legal decisions, some of which were
published in the works of Moroccan hakhamim, and sermons.
Another brother, (22) aaron toledano (d. c. 1785), was
rabbi in Meknes. Toward the end of his life he left for Tang-
ier, where he was appointed rabbi. His son (23) R. Abraham
toledano (d. c. 1820) was rabbi in Tangier after his fathers
death.

(24) r. hayyim ben r. judah (1703-1783), renowned
for his piety, was rabbi in Sale. He was a disciple of R. Moses
Berdugo and wrote legal decisions (Teshuvot MaHaRHat shel
Sale)> kinoty andpiyyutim. His nephew (20) r. solomon ben
eliezer (MaHaRShaT; d. 1809) was a leading rabbi in Me-
knes and a member of the bet din of (21) R. Jacob b. Moses
(MaHaRIT). He is said to have performed miracles, and to
the present day the sick prostrate themselves and pray at
his tomb. He wrote a work of legal decisions entitled Piskei
MaHaRShat. His cousin (25) moses ben daniel (d. 1773)
was a disciple of the brothers (18) R. Hayyim and (21) R.
Jacob Toledano (see above). From 1769 he was a member of
the bet din of the MaHaRIT (21). He left many works on the
Torah which his son-in-law (34)r. meir toledano edited,
summarized, and published as Melekhet ha-Kodesh (Leghorn,
1803). His legal decisions were published as Ha-Sh.am.ayim.
ha-Hadashim.

(26) r. baruch toledano (1738-1817), son of Ma-
HaRIT, was appointed dayyan after the death of his father.
The opponent of R. Raphael Berdugo he wrote legal deci-
sions and responsa. His son (?), (27) r. solomon tole-
dano (c. 1770-1840), was rabbi in Meknes. Many of his legal
decisions were published in the work Shufrei de-Yaakov of
R. Jacob Berdugo. (28) r. moses toledano (d. 1778), son
of MaHaRIT, was rabbi in Meknes. He wrote Meginnei She-
lomOy on Rashi s commentary to the Torah, as well as sermons.
His son (29), r. Joseph, collected, arranged, and copied the
writings of his grandfather (MaHaRIT). (30) r. hayyim ben
r. Joseph (d. 1848), rabbi in Meknes, was very active in the
community's administration. In Iyyar 5608 (1848) he was ar-
rested by the sherif (ruler) - as a result of a denunciation -
together with his colleague R. Joseph Berdugo and ten of the
community's leaders. About two months later he died in the
prison of Fez. He wrote a brief commentary on the Torah, le-
gal decisions, responsa, a work on the Tur Shulhan Arukh,
a commentary on the Haggadah y and a collection of letters
and writings.

(31) R. HABIB TOLEDANO BEN ELIEZER (c. 1800-1870)

was brought up in Meknes. Prior to 1825 he traveled to Gi-
braltar, where he collected funds to save the members of his
community from the famine which then ravaged Morocco.

From there he went to Tunis and Italy, where he published his
commentary on the Haggadah, Peh Yesharim (Leghorn, 1834),
and Terum at ha-Kodesh (Leghorn, 1842). r. jacob tole-
dano ben moses (d. c. 1928) was a rabbinical authority in
Meknes and a poet. His piyyutim and poems were published
as Yagel Yaakov (in: Yismah Yisrael y 1931). (32) r. Raphael
baruch ben jacob (1892-1971) was rabbi in Meknes. After
his father's death he was appointed to the bet din y and from
about 1940 he was av bet din of Meknes. He was very active
in community affairs, and founded yeshivot. He immigrated
to Israel in 1965. Toledano wrote a summarized version of the
complete Shulhan Arukh (1966), as well as a number of poems
and piyyutim y some of which are recited by Oriental commu-
nities and Sephardim. Rabbi Jacob Moses *Toledano was also
a member of the family.

bibliography: J.M. Toledano, Ner ha-Maarav (1911); J. Ben-

Naim, Malkhei Rabbanan (1931); Hirschberg, Afrikah, index; idem,

in: H.J. Zimmels et al. (eds.), Essays Presented to Chief Rabbi Israel

Brodie... (1967), 153-82.

[Haim Bentov]

TOLEDANO, JACOB MOSES (1880-1960), rabbi and
scholar. Toledano's father Judah had immigrated to Erez Israel
from Morocco. Jacob was born, educated, and ordained in
Tiberias. During 1899-1909, his first articles appeared in the
Jerusalem Hebrew paper Havazzelet y under the title Hiddushei
Torah. They were written in elegant Hebrew and in a scholarly
style. Toledano was also interested in ancient manuscripts pre-
served in the libraries and yeshivot of Oriental countries. He
conceived the idea of founding a society to publish them and
with this aim in mind entered into correspondence with schol-
ars in western countries who encouraged him to implement
the project. As a result of the cholera epidemic in Tiberias in
1903, he and his family left the town and settled in Peki'in.
During the seven years he lived there he devoted himself to
the study of the history of Oriental Jewry and its personalities,
as well as to the affairs of the Peki'in community, and pub-
lished his Ner ha-Maarav. At the beginning of World War 1,
together with 700 "French" Jews (of North African descent)
from Galilee, he was exiled from Erez Israel to Corsica because
of his French citizenship. As the representative of the Alliance
Israelite Universelle and the French government, he headed
the committee of exiles and worked for their material and spir-
itual benefit. In 1920 he returned to Tiberias and took part in
activities to revive communal life in the town; he represented
it in 1921 at the rabbinical conference held in Jerusalem to es-
tablish the chief rabbinate of Erez Israel. In 1926 he was ap-
pointed a member of the Tangier rabbinate, and in 1929 av bet
din and deputy chief rabbi of Cairo. In 1933 he was appointed
to the similar office in Alexandria, as well as deputy head of
the rabbinical court of appeals in Cairo, and in 1937 he became
chief rabbi of Alexandria. In 1942 he was elected Sephardi chief
rabbi of Tel Aviv- Jaffa, succeeding Ben Zion *Ouziel. In 1958,
when the religious parties had left the government coalition,
he was appointed minister of religious affairs.

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOLEDO

His Ner ha-Maarav (1911), the history of the Jews in Mo-
rocco from the commencement of their settlement and the bi-
ographies of its great rabbis, is a basic work for research into
the origins of Jewry in North Africa. His other books included
Appiryon (Jerusalem, 1905), a bibliography of the supercom-
mentators to Rashis commentary to the Pentateuch; Yedei
Moshe (Safed, 1915), a commentary on the Mishnah Pesahim
by Maimonides from a manuscript; Yam ha-Gadol (Cairo,
1931), responsa; Sarid u-Falit (Tel Aviv, 1945), giving passages
from manuscripts on ancient works dealing with the Talmud,
Jewish scholarship, the history of the settlement in Erez Israel,
and bibliography; and Ozar Genazim (i960), a collection of
letters on the history of Erez Israel from ancient manuscripts,
with introductions and notes.

bibliography: M.D. Gaon, Yehudei ha-Mizrah be-Erez Yis-
raely 2 (1938), 268-72; Tidhar, 3 (1958 2 ), 1322-24.

[Itzhak Goldshlag]

TOLEDO, city in Castile, central *Spain; capital of Castile
until 1561.

Early Jewish Settlement and Visigothic Period

There is no substantive information available on the begin-
nings of the Jewish settlement in Toledo, which was only a
small village in the period of Roman rule over Spain. Ac-
cording to a Jewish tradition dating from the period of Mus-
lim rule, the Jewish settlement in Toledo was the most an-
cient in the Iberian peninsula. This tradition was accepted by
Isaac *Abrabanel who states (in his commentary to the Book
of Kings, at the end, and to Obadiah 20) that the first settlers
were exiles from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, who had
arrived there after the destruction of the First Temple, and
were associated with a legend concerning Pirus and Hispan
who took part in the siege of Jerusalem. Hence the name "Tu-
letula" (Lat. Toletum = Toledo) has been explained as deriv-
ing from their wanderings (Heb. taltelah) when they were ex-
pelled from their land.

Jews probably established themselves there when the
town became the capital of the Visigoths, or during the pre-
ceding fourth to fifth centuries c.e. The Jewish settlement was,
however, inconsiderable, the Jews then being mainly concen-
trated in the towns on the east coast. Once the Visigoths be-
came converted to Christianity, the * Church councils held in
Toledo, particularly from the reign of Sisenand onward, di-
rected many decrees against them, which the Visigothic kings
strictly applied. The legislation indicates that there were Jew-
ish settlements in Toledo and the vicinity mainly engaged in
agriculture. When the danger of a Muslim invasion seemed
imminent, the 17 th Church Council, held in Toledo in 694, ac-
cused the Jews of plotting, in collaboration with their coreli-
gionists living across the straits, to destroy the Christian king-
dom. There is, however, no foundation to the accusation that
the Jews delivered the town to the Muslims at the time of its
capture (c. 712). Information on the conquest and the pres-
ence of Jews in the town is extant from a later period: during

the 13 th century, Ibn al- Adhari wrote that there had been only
a few Jews in the town at the time of its conquest.

[Haim Beinart]

The Jewish Quarter

The first sources referring to the Jewish quarter of Toledo are
from the 12 th century. At that time its size was much smaller
and was in the district of San Martin. The Jewish population
of Toledo increased considerably and with it the size of the
Jewish quarter, which expanded as far as San Tome and later
reached San Roman. The Jewish quarter in Toledo was situated
in the western part of the town, where it remained throughout
the existence of the Jewish settlement. Its location has been
always known in the city. The documents related to the Jews
of Toledo published by Leon Tello make it possible to define
with a great degree of precision the boundaries of the quarter.
In this area, a number of streets bear names recalling the mag-
nificent past of the community: Samuel ha-Levi, Travesia de
la Juderia. The quarter spread as far as the gate known today
as Cambron, formerly named "Gate of the Jews." The princi-
pal artery of the Jewish quarter, at present known as Calle del
Angel, was formerly named Calle de la Juderia. This street led
to a spacious square which was presumably the center of the
quarter. The wall which surrounded the quarter was built as
early as 820. There was also a fortress in the quarter for the
protection of the Jewish population. Because of the form of
its construction, the quarter constituted a kind of indepen-
dent town which could provide support and assistance to the
king when necessary. The Jewish quarter reached the peak of
its development and size in the middle of the 14 th century. A
mistaken reading of one of the sources misled some scholars
into thinking that there was a second, smaller quarter near
the Cathedral.

The Jewish quarter of Toledo was not exclusively inhab-
ited by Jews. Several well-known Christian noblemen had
houses in the precincts of the Jewish quarter. The size of the
Jewish population of Toledo cannot be estimated from the area
of the Jewish quarter. Baer estimates that the community con-
sisted of 350 families during the 14 th century, including those
who lived in villages in the vicinity. The historian Ayala con-
cluded that 1,200 Jewish men, women, and children of Toledo
died in the persecutions of 1355, in the Alcana quarter only,
though Baer does not consider that there were so many Jews
living here. In 1368, during the siege of Henry of Trastamara
against the town, 8,000 Jews including adults and children
died in Toledo, showing the magnitude of their numbers at
that time. The community of Toledo was one of the largest in
the Iberian peninsula, and at the height of its prosperity the
Jews probably formed one third of the city's population, which
was then over 40,000.

Jewish Edifices and Ancient Remnants

Toledo is one of the few towns of Spain where remnants of
Jewish edifices have been preserved. Toward the close of the
15 th century the sources (see Cantera, in bibliography) mention

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOLEDO

ten synagogues and a further five battel midrash. The syna-
gogues included the Great Synagogue situated in the old quar-
ter, which was destroyed by fire in 1250; the Old Synagogue,
renovated in 1107, an event which Judah Halevi immortalized
in a poem; the Ben-Ziza Synagogue, and many others, some of
whose names have not been recorded. In addition, there was
a synagogue founded by Joseph Abu 'Omar *Ibn Shoshan in
1203, converted into a church named Santa Maria la Blanca
in 1411 by Vicente *Ferrer (see below). Another synagogue
was built by Don Samuel Halevi in c. 1357; transferred to the
Order of the Knights of Calatrava in 1494, it later belonged to
the priory of San Benito and is at present named El Transito.
These two synagogues, still standing, are built in pronounced
Mudejar style and are distinguished for the beauty of their
arches and general appearance. They were evidently built by
Moorish craftsmen, and underwent structural alterations to
adapt them to church requirements. Both were declared na-
tional monuments toward the middle of the 19 th century. Re-
pairs have been carried out in the Samuel Halevi Synagogue,
and the women's gallery and other parts have been restored.
In 1964 it was decided to transform the synagogue into the Se-
phardi Museum. The museum contains very important Jew-
ish tombstones and various articles of great historical value.
The synagogue is decorated with passages from the Psalms
and beautiful dedicatory inscriptions to the benefactor and
builder of the synagogue and King Pedro, during whose reign
it was erected. The house of Samuel Halevi, still standing, was
for a while inhabited by the painter El Greco.

Toledo also has many remnants of Jewish tombstones,
some of which are preserved in the archaeological museum
of the town and others in the Sephardi Museum. Copying of
the inscriptions on these tombstones was begun from the end
of the 16 th century; many of the tombstones have since been
lost. During the 19 th century these reproductions were seen
by S.D. *Luzzatto, who published them (Avnei Zikkaron). A
scholarly edition of these inscriptions was published by Can-
tera and Millas with the addition of inscriptions and findings
discovered after Luzzattos publication. Of the tombstones
whose inscriptions were published, noteworthy are those of
Joseph Abu 'Omar ibn Shoshan (builder of the synagogue
mentioned above) who died in 1205; several members of the
*Abulafia family; *Jonah b. Abraham of Gerona (d. 1264);
David b. Gedaliah ibn Yahya of Portugal (d. 1325); *Jacob b.
Asher, author of the Turim (d. 1340), son of *Asher b. Jehiel
(see below); his brother, * Judah b. Asher, and members of
his family who died in the Black Death in 1349; the woman
Sitbona (a unique tombstone preserved in the archaeologi-
cal museum of Toledo); and R. Menahem b. Zerah author of
Zeidah la-Derekh (d. 1385).

Other findings include a pillar with the inscription
"Blessed be thy coming and blessed be thy going," with an
Arabic version of a blessing, which belonged to one of the
synagogues of the town; its architectural form indicates that
it dates from the late 12 th or early 13 th century. The bath house
of the Jews of the town was handed over to the San Clemente

monastery in 1131 by Alfonso vn but its location is unknown.
This abundance of findings is exceptional in Spain, where few
Jewish remains have been preserved. All the efforts in looking
for a mikveh or ritual bath have led to no concrete or certain
results. Of special interest is a fresco in one of the exits of the
Cathedral describing the blood libel leveled against the Jews,
accused of murdering a child of La Guardia.

[Haim Beinart / Yom Tov Assis (2 nd ed.)]

Period of Muslim Rule

During the 11 th century, when Toledo was ruled by the Berber
Ibn Danun dynasty, it had a large Jewish population of about
4,000, divided into separate communities generally accord-
ing to place of origin (e.g., the Cordobans, Barcelonese, etc.),
and a group to which was attributed * Khazar descent. Toledo
was also the center of the ^Karaites in Spain. Jewish occu-
pations included textile manufacture, tanning, and dyeing,
military professions, and commerce. Jews in the villages near
Toledo were known for their skill in agriculture and viticul-
ture. A wealthy class of Jewish merchants, bankers, and agents
for foreign Christian rulers lived in Toledo. Toledo became a
center of Jewish scholarship, translation, and science; the as-
tronomer Zarkal (Abu Ishaq Ibrahim b. Yahya) lived there for
a time in the mid-n th century, and the biblical commentator
Judah b. Samuel *Ibn Bal'am was born and educated in To-
ledo in this period.

Toledo under Christian Rule

The situation of the Jews in Toledo remained unchanged after
the town was conquered by Alfonso vi in 1085. During the
12 th century it continued as a center of learning and Jews and
apostates were among those who translated works of math-
ematics, astronomy, and other subjects from Arabic into the
spoken vernacular and from that language into Latin. The ca-
pitulation terms of the town show that Alfonso promised the
Muslims that they could retain their mosques and would only
transfer to him the fortified places. There is, however, no in-
formation available on the terms affecting the Jews although
the fortress situated in their quarter remained in their posses-
sion. At this time and throughout the reign of Alfonso, Don
Joseph *Ferrizuel (Cidellus) held office in the royal court and
was particularly active in favor of his coreligionists.

From then on, the community developed until it became
the most prominent in the Kingdom of Castile and one of the
most important in Spain. In 1101 Alfonso granted the Arabi-
zed Christian population a privilege establishing that the fines
they might pay should amount to only one-fifth of those paid
by others, excepting in the case of murder or robbery of a Jew
or Moor. When Alfonso vi died in 1109, the inhabitants of the
town rebelled and attacked the Jews. Alfonso vn, the crown
prince, reached a compromise with the townsmen and issued
a series of laws discriminating against the Jews, and laid down
that lawsuits between Jews and Christians were to be brought
before a Christian judge. In 1118 he actually reintroduced the
Visigothic law of the fourth council of Toledo in 633, which
excluded "those of Jewish origin" from all public positions.

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOLEDO

During this period some of the most distinguished per-
sonalities of their time lived in Toledo: Isaac *Ibn Ezra who
apparently left the town in 1119; Moses *Ibn Ezra who stayed
there; and Joseph ibn Kamaniel, the physician, one of the
wealthiest members of the community who was entrusted with
an important diplomatic mission to the king of Portugal. There
were also the families of Shoshan, Al-Fakhar, Halevi, Abulafia,
Zadok (who were given land in a village near Toledo in 1132),
and Ferrizuel. Because of their importance, the last regarded
themselves as descendants of the House of David and as being
of noble birth: they assumed the title of nasi and thus became
a kind of oligarchy within the Jewish community This family
produced the leading tax lessees in the city, in the surrounding
area, and in the whole kingdom, as well as other courtiers al-
most throughout the community's existence. During the reign
of Sancho in (1157-58), the position of almoxarife in Toledo
was held by Judah Joseph ibn Ezra (referred to as Bonjuda in
documents); the king granted him lands and exempted him
from the payment of tithes on these estates and taxes. R. Judah
is known for his energetic activity to remove Karaism from
Castile. During the reign of Alfonso vin (1158-1214), when
Toledo was again threatened by the *Almohads, the Christian
soldiers maltreated the Jews, although these had actively par-
ticipated in the defense of the town. Joseph Al-Fakhar and his
son Abraham, originally from Granada, then acted as almox-
arifes in Toledo, as did also members of the Ibn Ezra family
and Joseph Abu Omar ibn Shoshan.

The language spoken by the Jews of Toledo and employed
in their documents during the 11 th to 13 th centuries was partly
Arabic; they customarily wrote their documents in Arabic
with Hebrew characters. These sources reveal a well-developed
economic life. Jews of Toledo are recorded as having sold or
purchased land, as lenders and borrowers, and are also found
in partnerships with Christians in real estate transactions and
in commerce. The documents show that the Jews of Toledo
did not turn to the non-Jewish tribunals, as was customary
in other communities, in matters which involved both Chris-
tians and Jews. The Jews owned fields and vineyards and oc-
casionally leased land and pastures in partnership with Chris-
tians; they maintained slaves, owned shops, and engaged in
every kind of craft. In conjunction with Christians they even
occasionally leased the revenues of churches and monaster-
ies. The documents also indicate the status of several of their
signatories within the framework of the community. Some
of them bear the title of sofer or hazzan, as well as honorifics
such as al-hakim and al-vazir. Apparently until the close of
the 12 th century, the community's style of life resembled that
of a Jewish community under Muslim rule. It was only in the
course of the 13 th century that the prevailing Arab titles lost
their luster. By the beginning of the 14 th century, use of Ara-
bic in deeds and documents was abandoned.

The administrative organization of the community does
not appear to have changed throughout its existence. There
is no information on the administrative organization dur-
ing Muslim rule, but a responsum attributed to R. Joseph

ibn Migash mentions the existence, in the early 12 th century,
of an organization headed by seven notables and elders and
a bet din. During that period there were also administrative
leaders in the community. Gonzalez Palencia has shown that
these positions were held by members of distinguished fami-
lies. From the 13 th century the community was administered
by ten ^muqaddimun. Under the influence of Don Joseph
ibn Wakar, changes were introduced into the procedure for
the election of the community leaders: two arbitrators were
elected to choose the muqaddimun. After the expulsion of the
Jews from Spain the regulations of Toledo became a model
for the organization of the communities of Spanish refugees
who settled in North Africa and throughout the territories of
the Ottoman Empire.

The decisions of the Fourth *Lateran Council of 1215 in-
fluenced the relationship between the Church and the Jews of
the town. Rodrigo, the archbishop of Toledo, reached an agree-
ment with the Jews of the archdiocese according to which ev-
ery Jew aged over 20 would pay one sixth of a gold coin to him
as an annual tax; it was laid down that doubtful cases were to
be decided by four elders, the muqaddimun of the commu-
nity, and two Jews chosen by the archbishop; the Jews of To-
ledo would be exempted from all tithe payments as decided
by the Lateran Council, and any property sold by a Jew to a
Christian throughout the archdiocese would be exempted
from tithe payment. The archbishop undertook to protect the
Jews, and the elders of the community were responsible for
observance of the agreement by the Jews. Ferdinand in rati-
fied this agreement.

In the 13 th century, under the auspices of Alfonso x, the
Wise, Jews were involved in translating scientific, philosophi-
cal, and medical works from Arabic into Castilian. Out of the
12 translators engaged in the program 5 were Jewish, and they
translated 40 percent of all the works.

A period of crisis occurred at the time of the revolt of
Crown Prince Sancho against his father (1280-81). A con-
temporary author relates that the community of Toledo was
shaken "as Sodom and Gomorrah." Alfonso x ordered the im-
prisonment of the Jews in their synagogues, from which they
were not to be released until the community paid him a special
tax. Notables of the community remained in prison for many
months. Attempts were even made there to convert them
and several were executed. The distinguished poet Todros b.
Judah Ha-Levi was among the prisoners, who after some self-
examination decided to repent. He called on the community
to amend its evil ways in transactions and commerce, and to
separate from non- Jewish women, among other practices. The
community accepted his appeal, and a herem ("ban") was pro-
claimed in the synagogue against anyone committing these of-
fenses. This was an act of repentance on the part of a whole
community. One of the scholars of Toledo, Jacob b. Crisp,
turned to Solomon b. Abraham *Adret (Rashba) and requested
his opinion and sanction for the administration of "this prov-
ince and the penalization of offenders." The latter advised that
the same rule could not be applied to everyone: at first a gentle

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOLEDO

manner should be adopted, but if this proved of no avail, then
the strict letter of the law was to be applied.

The same conditions prevailed within the community
of Toledo during the reigns of Alfonso and Sancho. The main
figure among the Jewish courtiers was Don Abraham El
Barchillon, a native of Toledo, first mentioned in state docu-
ments as having leased the minting of coins in the kingdom.
Others included Don Abraham ibn Shoshan who had al-
ready risen to importance during the reign of Alfonso x, and
was the almoxarife of the queen. The poet Todros ha-Levi
Abulafia also resumed his public activities and for a period
headed a group of personalities who leased the state reve-
nues: the port customs duties, payments to the royal office,
and others.

During his own lifetime, Maimonides was challenged in
Toledo by a notable adversary, Meir b. Todros ha-Levi Abu-
lafia, whose opinions were shared by the physician Judah b.
Joseph al-Fakhar, and Joseph b. Todros Ha-Levi, the brother
of R. Meir. They regarded the writings of Maimonides to be
dangerous in that they could undermine faith. The controversy
over the study of the writings of Maimonides (see *Maimon-
idean controversy) received particular impetus in Toledo in
1304-05, at the time of the publication of the correspondence
between Solomon b. Adret and Abba Mari *Astruc on the sub-
ject of the herem issued against the study of the Guide of the
Perplexed. The correspondence was published by Samson b.
Meir, who went to Toledo to obtain the signatures of the com-
munity leaders to this herem and the support of R. Asher b.
Jehiel (Rosh), who from the beginning of the 14 th century oc-
cupied the rabbinical seat in Toledo. During his lifetime and
that of his son R. Judah, To rah learning flourished in Toledo;
another of his sons, R. * Jacob b. Asher, wrote the Turim there.
Israel b. Joseph *al-Nakawa, author of Menorat ha-Mabr, was
also active there.

At the beginning of the 14 th century, an attempt was
made by the clergy in Toledo to compel the Jews to cease
from engaging in moneylending; they also compelled the
Jews to return the interest which they had taken and to can-
cel the obligations of payment which Christians had under-
taken. Ferdinand iv notified the clergy that he would bring
them to account if they continued to impose a boycott on the
Jews or sought to prosecute them before the Church tribu-
nals. Nevertheless in a number of cases the king accepted the
arguments of the clergy, and Jewish moneylenders of Toledo
were arrested, tried before Christian judges, and condemned
to lengthy terms of imprisonment. During that period there
were wealthy Jews who earned their livelihood by renting
houses to other Jews, a practice until then unknown. Toledo
was also one of the rare places where Jews owned Muslim
slaves. The reign of Alfonso xi (1312-50) was favorable to the
community. Don Joseph ha-Levi b. Ephraim (identified with
Don Yu^af de Ecija) and Samuel ibn Wakar, the king's physi-
cian who in 1320 leased the minting of coins in the kingdom,
were then active at court. They competed for influence there
and for the leasing of the revenues of the kingdom. Don Moses

*Abzardiel (or Zardiel) was a third personality of importance;
as dayyan in Toledo and scribe of the king, his signature in
Latin is found on deeds and documents concerning taxes and
financial affairs, and on privileges issued to bishops, monas-
teries, noblemen, and towns during the 1330s.

The *Black Death (1348) took a heavy toll among the
community of Toledo. During the reign of Pedro the Cruel
(1350-60), Don Samuel b. Meir ha-Levi "Abulafia acted as chief
agent and treasurer of the king. It was presumably he who
built the synagogue in 1357 which bears his name (see above).
In 1358 he left for Portugal to negotiate a political agreement,
and he was signatory to several royal edicts. He was suddenly
arrested in 1360 (or 1361) upon the order of King Pedro, and
removed to Seville, where he died at the hands of his tortur-
ers. Other Jews after him were lessees and courtiers, more
particularly members of the ha-Levi and *Benveniste fami-
lies of Burgos.

In 1355, when the king entered Toledo, Christians and
Muslims attacked the Jewish quarters. The Alcana quarter,
near the cathedral, suffered heavily. During the civil war be-
tween Pedro and Henry (1366-69), the town changed hands
several times; when Pedro once more besieged the city,
in 1368-69, 8,000 Jews perished. In June 1369 he ordered
that the Jews of Toledo and their belongings be sold to raise
1,000,000 gold coins. The community was ruined, and every
object which could find a buyer was sold. By 1367, however,
the Christian congregations had already complained that
they had sunk into debts to the Jews and called for a mora-
torium on their debts and reduction to half of their value.
Henry had remitted their debts for two years and reduced
them to one third.

The Persecutions of 1391

While the Toledo community was still endeavoring to recover
from the effects of the civil war, it was overtaken by the per-
secutions which swept Spain in 1391 and brought down upon
it ruin and destruction. The riots against the Jews in Toledo
broke out on 17 Tammuz (June 20) or, according to Christian
sources, on August 5. Among the many who were martyred
were the grandchildren of R. Asher, his disciples, and numer-
ous distinguished members of the community. Almost all the
synagogues were destroyed or set on fire, and the battel ml-
drash became mounds of ruins. Many abandoned Judaism
at that time, and Toledo became filled with Conversos (see
below). The impoverishment of the community is also evi-
dent from the order of Henry 111, according to which certain
incomes totaling 48,400 maravedis were handed over to the
New Kings Church of Toledo in 1397 instead of the income
provided for it by his father and grandfather from the an-
nual tax of the Jews, which could not be collected as a result
of the destruction of the community. During that year Jewish
houses were also auctioned. There were, however, still Jews of
Toledo who held important leases. In 1395 the archbishop of
Toledo appointed his physician Pedro, who was an apostate,
chief justice of the communities of his archdiocese. This was a

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOLEDO

unique case in which an apostate became a judge to dispense
Jewish law. Don Abraham ibn Shoshan protested to the crown
against this appointment.

The community of Toledo did not recover throughout
the 15 th century. In 1408 John 11 transferred several revenues
to the chief adelantado of the kingdom of Castile to replace his
revenues formerly derived from the communities of Toledo,
Madrid, and Alcala de Henares which had been destroyed and
were so impoverished that all income from them had disap-
peared. Vicente Ferrer visited Toledo in 1411. He entered the
Jewish quarter with an armed escort and converted the Ibn
Shoshan Synagogue into a church. There is reason to believe
that a number of Jews converted to Christianity as a result of
the sermons he delivered. The annual taxes of Jewish Toledo
amounted to only 7,000 maravedis in 1439. There were, how-
ever, still a number of Jews who held leases in the town and
outside it, survivors of the old families: Don Isaac Abudra-
ham in the archdeaconry of Alcaraz near Toledo (1439); Don
Ephraim ibn Shoshan who leased taxes in Toledo in 1442 and
continued to do so after the attacks on the Conversos in 1452
and 1454. When Isabella ascended the throne and the country
became united with the kingdom of Aragon, Jews of Toledo
again held important positions in the kingdom as lessees and
courtiers. Don David Abudraham leased the tax on meat and
fish in Toledo between 1481 and 1484. Don Moses ibn Shoshan
leased the taxes of Molina. During that year Don Abraham
*Seneor of Segovia leased the taxes of Toledo. While in To-
ledo in 1480, the Catholic monarchs ^Ferdinand and Isabella
decided on their anti- Jewish policy and the Cortes convened
there adopted a series of decrees.

The Jews of Toledo were expelled with the other Jews of
Spain in 1492, and the last exiles left Toledo on the seventh of
Av. They left behind them the debts owed to them by Chris-
tians, and the government determined the procedure for
their collection. Luis de Alcala and Fernando Nunez (Abra-
ham Seneor) Coronel were entrusted with this task. At that
time 40 houses in their ancient quarter were owned by Jews,
who apparently were not sufficiently numerous to occupy all
of them so that some were inhabited by Christians. No infor-
mation is available about the destinations of the exiles, but as
the regulations of the Toledo community are found in Fez and
other places in North Africa they obviously settled there. Jews
from Toledo settled in Turkey and also reestablished commu-
nities in Erez Israel. In Toledo in 1494 Rodrigo de Marcado,
the kings representative, proclaimed that the property of the
community would be transferred to the crown. This included
communal property, the debts owed to Jews, real estate, butch-
ers' shops, and the lands and consecrated properties which the
Jews of the town had entrusted to the municipal council or
handed over to several of its citizens.

The Conversos of Toledo

Jews were living in Toledo as forced converts (see also *Anusim)
during two periods. The first was under the Visigoths, and
the second period of religious persecution and forced apos-

tasy was from the end of the 14 th century. The Conversos of
Toledo continued to live in the quarters they had formerly
occupied as Jews, until the 1480s, when the residential area of
the Jewish quarter was greatly reduced, while the Conversos
were dispersed among the Christian parishes of the town.

The revolt of Pedro *Sarmiento against John 11 in 1449,
and the attempt by the crown to have taxes collected from
the inhabitants of the town by Conversos, resulted in attacks
on the latter. These were followed by a trial of 12 Conversos
which gave impetus to the publication in Castile of a wide-
spread literature on the subject, as part of a public campaign
both for and against the Conversos, concerning their place
within Christian society. Many pamphlets of satire which
ridiculed the Conversos were composed, while forged letters
were circulated of a supposed correspondence between Cham-
orro, the "head" of the community of Toledo, with Yusuf, the
"head" of the Jews of Constantinople, concerning a project to
destroy Christianity.

Attempts to conduct inquiries in Toledo against suspected
heresy, in "Inquisition style, were inspired by the monk ^Al-
fonso de Espina during the 1460s. *Alfonso de Oropesa, head
of the Order of St. Jerome, was appointed by the archbishop
to investigate heresy in Toledo. During a whole year he inter-
rogated Conversos and penalized them, but the overwhelm-
ing majority evidently returned to the fold of the Church. On
July 19, 1467 riots again broke out against the Conversos in
the Magdalena quarter, and there was again an open conflict
between Conversos and Christians in various quarters of the
town. When the Christians gained the upper hand, many Con-
versos hid in the houses of the Jews. Several of the Converso
leaders were arrested and executed.

In 1485 the rabbis of Toledo were ordered to proclaim a
herem against Jews who refused to testify before the Inqui-
sition if they knew of Conversos who observed the Jewish
precepts. In i486 and the beginning of 1487, 4,000 of the in-
habitants of the town and the vicinity were involved in five
autos-da-fe; some of them returned to the fold of the Church
and others were burned at the stake on the site known as Su-
codovar. However, the files of only 85 executions are extant
for the period between 1485 and the 1660s. The Conversos
sentenced in Toledo belonged to two categories: the cultured
persons, holders of public office, and the ordinary craftsmen.
Among the intellectuals sentenced were Alvaro de Montal-
ban, father-in-law of the poet Fernando de Rojas, author of
the Celestina; and Martin de Lucena, to whom R. Solomon ibn
Verga refers as a scholar. His son Juan de Lucena was one of
the first in Spain to print Hebrew works and diffuse them out-
side the country. Juan de Pineda, a commander of the Order
of Santiago and the delegate of the Order at the papal court,
was also among those tried. Craftsmen tried by the Inquisi-
tion included cobblers, shoemakers, tailors, and blacksmiths.
Many merchants and women were also executed. Attempts
were also made to implicate the Conversos of Toledo in the
*La Guardia blood libel.

[Haim Beinart]

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOLEDO

bibliography: general: Baer, Spain, index; A.M. Gam-
ero, Historia de la Ciudad de Toledo (1862); }. Amador de los Rios,
Historia... de los Judios de Espaha y Portugal, 3 vols. (1876), passim;
Neuman, Spain, index, add. bibliography: A.M. Lopez Alva-
rez, Catdlogo del Museo Sefardi, Toledo (1986); J. Blazquez Miguel,
Toledot: Historia del Toledo judio (1989). early Jewish commu-
nity and the visigothic period: S. Katz, Jews in the Visigothic
and Frankish Kingdoms of Spain and Gaul (1937), passim; C.G. Gold-
araz, El codice Lucense (1954); H. Beinart, in: Estudios, 3 (1961), 1-32
(includes bibliography). Jewish quarter: Ashtor, Korot, 1 (i960),
2iiff.; A. Gonzalez Palencia, Los mozdrabes de Toledo en los siglos
xii y xii, estudio preliminar (1930), 72 f.; L. Torres Balbas, in: Al-An-
dalus, 12 (1947), 164-98; F. Cantera, in: Sefarad, 7 (1947), 442-3; M.
Reisz, Europe's Jewish Quarters (1991), 24-37. Jewish landmarks:
C. Roth, in: jqr, 39 (1948), 123 ff.; idem, in: Sefarad, 8 (1948), 3-22;
F. Cantera, ibid., 26 (1966), 305-14; idem, Sinagogas espanolas (1955),
33-150; F. Cantera and J.M. Millas, Inscripciones hebraicas de Espaha
U956), 36-180, 332-9, 367-8 (incl. bibl.). add. bibliography: S.
Palomera Plaza, A.M. Lopez Alvarez, and Y. Alvarez Delgado, in:
Jewish Art, 18 (1992), 48-57; E.W. Goldman, in: ibid., 58-70. Mus-
lim period: Y. Baer, in: Tarbiz, 5 (1934), 186 ff.; S.D. Goitein, ibid.,
24 (1955), 2iff., i34ff.; 25 (1956), 393 ff.; E. Ashtor, in: Zion, 28 (1963),
39-40; Ashtor, Korot; A. Gonzalez Palencia, Los mozdrabes de Toledo
en los siglos xii y xii, estudio preliminar (1930), 149-51; Baer, Urkun-
den, index, christian period: N. Round, in: Archivum, 16 (1966),
385-446; B. Netanyahu, in: paajr, 44 (1977), 93-125; P. Leon Tello,
Judios de Toledo (1979), 2 vols.; J.M. Nieto Soria, in: Sefarad, 41 (1981),
301-19; 42 (1982), 79-102; J. Porres Martin-Cleto, in: Anales toledanos,
16 (1983), 37-61; N. Roth, in: ajsr, 11 (1986), 189-220; J. Aguado Vil-
lalba, in: Arqueologia medieval espahola, 11 Congreso (1987), 247-57;
L. Cardaillac (ed.), Tolede, xne-xine: musulmans, chretiens et juifs;
le savoir et la tolerance (1991). conversos: A.Z. Aescoly, in: Zion,
10 (1945), 136 ff.; H. Beinart, ibid., 20 (1955), iff.; idem, in: Tarbiz, 26
(1957), 86-71; idem, Anusim be-Din ha-Inkvizizyah (1965), index;
H.C. Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, 4 vols. (1906), index;
A. de Cartagena, Defensonium unitatis christianae, ed. by M. Alonso
U943); A. A. Sicroff, Les controverses de statuts de l< purete de sang"
en Espagne... (i960); E. Benito Ruano, Toledo en el siglo xv (1961);
Suarez Fernandez, Documentos, index; F. Cantera, Judaizantes del
arzobispado de Toledo (1969); idem, El poet a Rodrigo Cota y su fa-
milia de judios Conversos (1970). add. bibliography: L. Martz,
in: Sefarad, 48 (1988), 117-96; J-P. Dedieu, ^administration de lafoi:
Vlnquisition de Tolede, xvi e -xvin e siecle (1989).

TOLEDO, city in Ohio, U.S. The estimated population (2005)
was 315,000, with the Jewish population somewhat less than
4,000 (5,900 in the metropolitan area), approximately 6,000
fewer than cited in the 1972 Encyclopaedia Judaica. Local
legend has it that the name of the city, borrowed from the
Spanish city, was suggested by the Jewish citizens as it de-
rives from the Hebrew toledot which connotes history and
continuity.

The history of the development of the Toledo Jewish
community began with a handful of German and Dutch Jews
who arrived via Cincinnati. They were joined by several Hun-
garian Jews. In 1837 when the city was chartered there were
several Jewish families. Toledo and Cincinnati were connected
by a series of canals and the local Jews were largely in com-
merce with goods that were ferried from Cincinnati. Happily,

there was no need for a Jewish cemetery until 1867 when the
Hebrew Benevolent and Cemetery Association was founded.
The first cemetery was interdenominational. Since then, the
three congregations have created separate burial grounds for
their members. There is a hevra kaddisha that serves all the
Jews of the community.

Among the first Jewish families were the Marx broth-
ers. Emil, Guido, and Joseph published the Ohio Staatszei-
tung intended for the largely German- speaking population of
the area. Emil was an early volunteer at the beginning of the
Civil War. Joseph was appointed U.S. consul to Amsterdam
by President Abraham Lincoln in 1864.

The first settlers were staunchly individualistic free think-
ing or atheistic Jews who were bound to the community
through a network of family business and shared capital. At-
tempts to form synagogues were spasmodic and short lived.

The first mention of the observance of High Holidays
was in 1865 but it wasn't until 1867 that Congregation B'nai
Israel, now affiliated with the Conservative movement, was
founded. It has been served by Rabbis Halper, Glazer, Herow-
itz, Epstein, Lichtenstein, Goldberg, Perlmutter, Bienstock,
Ungar, Kaiman, and Leff.

Eight years later Reform Congregation Shomer Emunim
("keeper of faithfulness"; Isaiah 26:2) was founded. The name
was suggested by Isaac Mayer Wise, the initiator and organizer
of the then incipient Reform movement in the United States.
It was assumed that a Jewish community in such a remote sec-
tion of the mid- west United States deserved a name affirming
its faithfulness. It appears to be the only synagogal congrega-
tion in the world with that name. The rabbis of the congrega-
tion have been Schanfarber, Meier, Freund, Alexander, Coffee,
Harris, Kornfeld, Feuer, Sokobin, and Weinstein.

Congregation Etz Chaim was founded by the merger of
smaller Orthodox congregations. Its rabbis have been Katz
and Garsek.

Several of the rabbis of Toledo have had contributory po-
sitions in Toledo to the nation and national Jewish organiza-
tions. Following World War 11 when Israel was struggling to
create its independence Rabbi Leon * Feuer was the chief lob-
byist in Washington seeking American political support for
the establishment of a Jewish State. He later became president
of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. Rabbi Morton
Goldberg served as both president of the Toledo Public School
System and the Toledo Library system. Rabbi J.S. *Kornfeld
was ambassador to Persia and Rabbi Alan Sokobin was chair
of studies of the educational system as well as the court and
justice systems of the City of Toledo. Both Rabbi Feuer and
Rabbi Sokobin taught at the University of Toledo.

In response to the large number of Jews arriving in To-
ledo the need to organize led to the establishment of the To-
ledo Federation of Jewish Charities in 1907. The Jewish Ban-
ner Boys Club had previously been organized to assist 12 and
13 year olds integrate into the community. A Banner Club
for girls was formed and the boys and girls met together on
a weekly basis for a discussion group. The many social and

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOLEDO, MOSES DE

cultural activities thrived and the need for a building was
becoming apparent. In 1911 the Council of Jewish Women
was given permission to solicit funds for a building. In 1912
a building was erected by the Jewish Educational League for
the programs directed at children and newcomers to the area.
The purpose of the league had the lofty goal "to develop and
maintain a high standard of American citizenship among the
Jewish Residents of Toledo."

In 1936 the Jewish Educational League, the Jewish Family
Service, and the Transient Service became a part of the Jewish
Community Center. Since that time the Jewish community of
Toledo has been exceedingly well represented in national Jew-
ish organizations. There are active chapters of Hadassah, ort,
and B'nai B'rith as well as chapters of Young Judea and Syna-
gogue Youth. The United Jewish Council is the governance
body for the Toledo Board of Jewish Education that maintains
a Jewish day school as well as an afternoon Hebrew program
serving the Orthodox and Conservative congregations. In
2004 the athletic programs of the Jewish Community Center
were combined with those of the Toledo ymca.

Jews have become an integral part of the general Toledo
community. There are Jews who have been elected to impor-
tant judicial as well as legislative posts. While the community
began largely with merchants, today the majority of Toledo
Jewry is engaged in the professions. Like many Ohio com-
munities, elderly Jews have migrated toward the sunbelt and
younger Jews have left for college and not returned home.

[Alan Sokobin (2 nd ed.)]

TOLEDO, MOSES DE (fl. first part of 17 th century), Jeru-
salem hakham and emissary. In 1628 Toledo traveled through
the Greek islands, reaching the island of Corfu at the begin-
ning of winter. He was one of the numerous emissaries who
were sent out from Jerusalem after the brutalities of the gov-
ernor, Muhammad ibn Farukh, in 1625. The latter impover-
ished the Jews, who lost all of their possessions, and as a result
of his extortions he even enslaved them to the Muslims for
many years. The community of Corfu was generous with all
the emissaries, but since Toledo was the third emissary from
Jerusalem within a brief period, the community in a special
letter to Jerusalem requested that no more emissaries be sent.
Furthermore, it stated that the Corfu community would send
its contributions directly to Jerusalem by the safest method
available, in order to save the commissioning of an emissary
and his expenses.

bibliography: S. Baron, in: Sefer ha-Shanah li-Yhudei Ame-
rikahy 6 (1942), 167-8; Yaari, Sheluhei, 266.

[Avraham Yaari]

TOLEDOT HA-ARI (Heb. '"ixn nnVifi), a legendary biog-
raphy of Isaac * Luria of *Safed. It is one of the most detailed
and richest hagiographies written in Hebrew.

Found in many manuscripts, it seems to have been a
popular work, was translated into Ladino (printed 1766), and
even adapted into the story genre having a single plot (e.g., a

Yemenite story based on it). It first appeared in print under
the title Kavvanot u-Maaseh Nissim (Istanbul, 1720). The re-
lationship between this work and the Shivhei ha-Ari, another
collection of stories about Luria (first printed in Joseph *Del-
medigo's Taalumot Hokhmah, Basle, 1629-31, and again in a
different version in Emek ha-Melekh by Naphtali *Bacharach,
Amsterdam, 1648) is a point of discussion in modern scholar-
ship. Benayahu maintains that the letters constituting Shivhei
ha-Ari (the letters of Solomon Shlumil of Dresnitz) were writ-
ten in Safed in the first decade of the 17 th century, and were
taken from Toledot ha-Ari which, according to him, already
existed then as a collection of stories. However, the first manu-
scripts of Toledot ha-Ari were written in the second half of the
17 th century, decades after R. Shlumil's letters.

Toledot ha-Ari is a more fantastical, romantic, and imag-
inative work than Shivhei ha-Ari. It includes, for example, a
version of "The Story of the Jerusalemite," a i3 th -century tale
about the marriage between a man and a demon, adapted to
serve as a vehicle to demonstrate Luria's greatness. The fa-
mous story of the *dibbuk (a spirit which entered a girl's body)
which appears in Shivhei ha-Ari as an addendum, and is not
among Shlumil's original letters, is an integral part of Toledot
ha-Ari. The supernatural tales found in Toledot ha-Ari are also
not in Shivhei ha-Ari. In Toledot ha-Ari, Luria is sometimes
portrayed as a famous rabbi and judge, respected in Safed
and all over the Jewish East. This is not a historical fact, and
nothing of the sort is mentioned in Shlumil's letters. It may
therefore be inferred that Shivhei ha-Ari is a compilation of
intimate accounts told by Luria's pupils, whereas Toledot ha-
Ari is a collection of fantastical and imaginary hagiographies
which were associated with Luria by later admirers, after his
fame had spread all over the Jewish world. At the same time,
there is little doubt that Toledot ha-Ari also includes some true
stories about Luria which Shlumil either did not know, or did
not include in his extant letters. It must therefore be consid-
ered also as a source on Luria's life and works. It served as an
example for later Jewish compilers of hagiographies, and, un-
doubtedly, influenced Shivhei ha-Besht (Berdichev, 1815), the
hagiographies of the founder of Hasidism, and other simi-
lar works.

bibliography: M. Benayahu (ed.), Sefer Toledot ha-Ari
(1967), incl. bibl.; idem, in: Sefunot, 10 (1966), 213-98.

[Joseph Dan]

TOLEDOT YESHU (Heb. "The Life of Jesus"), medieval
pseudo-history of the life of *Jesus. The inherent nature of the
Christian version of the birth, life, and death of Jesus called
forth a "Jewish" view. Beginnings to an approach can be found
in the talmudic tractates Sotah (47a) and Sanhedrin (43a; 67a;
107b). When confronted by Christian critics and censors, how-
ever, Jewish scholars explained that these references were to
another Jesus who had lived 200 years before the Christian
era. From the geonic period at the latest, and throughout the
Middle Ages, many versions on the life of Jesus were written
and compiled by Jews. The authors used as sources talmudic

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOLLER, ERNST

sayings and Christian stories. The different writings merged
into a single narrative of which nearly a dozen versions are
extant. Most of these were printed by Samuel *Krauss, whose
Das Leben Jesu nach juedischen Quellen (1902) includes a de-
tailed study of nine versions of the story, and has remained
the main scholarly work in the field.

The complete narrative, which could not have been writ-
ten before the tenth century, used earlier sources, some of
which have been preserved in the Cairo *Genizah documents.
A chronological examination of the various fragments and
versions reveals the development of the narrative. The com-
plete medieval story has versions which are so different from
each other in attitude and in detail that it is impossible that
one author could have written it. Undoubtedly, several sto-
rytellers wove their separate tales out of the same early ma-
terial; these were then compiled. In all the versions, Miriam
(Mary), Jesus' mother, is described in a favorable light. She
is of a good family and marries a nobleman whose ancestry
goes back to the House of David. According to the narrative,
Jesus' father, a neighbor of the household, was a bad man.
Some versions state that he raped Miriam, others relate that he
succeeded in pretending to be Miriam's husband. The names
of the husband and the villain vary in the different versions.
If the husband is Joseph, the villain is Johanan, and in those
which name Johanan as the husband, Joseph is the villain. All
versions concur that when it became known that Mary was
raped, the husband ran away, and the infant was born to his
lonely mother.

The narrative in all its versions treats Jesus as an excep-
tional person who from his youth demonstrated unusual wit
and wisdom, but disrespect toward his elders and the sages of
the age. This part of the story bears some similarities to Ben
Sira's youth described in Alphabet of *Ben Sira y leading some
scholars to believe that the latter was also an anti- Christian
satirical medieval work. The narrative does not deny that Jesus
had supernatural powers; these, however, he obtained when
he stole a holy name from the Temple. After a long struggle, in
which conflicting magical powers contested for preeminence,
Jesus' magic was rendered powerless by one of the sages. Natu-
rally, the narrative intends to divest Christian tradition of any
spiritual meaning. Some of the miracles, therefore, like the
disappearance of Jesus' body after death, are explained either
as acts of deception or as natural phenomena. In the more
developed versions of the narrative, the hatred toward Jesus
and his followers is not the only motif in the story. Many un-
necessary details were added, secondary characters were de-
veloped, and the story became a romance about the tragic fate
of a young man mistaken in his ways.

bibliography: S. Krauss, Das Leben Jesu nach juedischen
Quellen (1902); J. Jacobs, Jesus as Others Saw Him (1925 2 ), contains
How the Jews will Reclaim Jesus (introductory essay by H.A. Wolf-
son); H.G. Enelow, A Jewish View of Jesus (1931 2 ); G. Brandes, Jesus
a Myth (1926); W. Fischel, Eine juedisch-persische "Toledoth Jeschu"-
Handschrift (offprint from mgwj, vol. 78, 1934).

[Joseph Dan]

TOLERANZ PATENT, edict of tolerance issued by Emperor
Joseph 11 on Jan. 2, 1782 for Vienna and Lower Austria (and
subsequently for other provinces of the empire). It was one of
a series of patents granted to the major, non-Catholic denomi-
nations of Austria, guaranteeing existing rights and obligations
and laying down additional ones. The final version was less
liberal than Joseph lis original drafts. The Toleranzpatent con-
firmed existing restrictions against any increase in the number
of tolerated Jews; however, they were encouraged to engage
in large-scale business, to set up factories, and to learn trades
(although becoming master craftsmen remained prohibited);
to establish schools and attend universities. Upper-class Jews
were encouraged to integrate socially. The concluding article
exhorted the Jews to be thankful and not to misuse their privi-
leges, particularly not to offend Christianity in public, an of-
fense which would result in expulsion. At the same time in-
sult or violence done to a Jew would be punished.

With its leitmotif of making the Jews useful to society
and the state through education and the abolishment of eco-
nomic restrictions, the Toleranzpatent influenced much con-
temporary legislation in Germany. Although welcomed by
N.H. *Wessely and other luminaries of the *Haskalah, it was
viewed with misgiving in conservative Jewish circles, in partic-
ular by Ezekiel * Landau, who characterized it as a gezerah ("a
disaster"); he was especially troubled by the order that within
two years no document in Hebrew would be legally valid. Even
Moses ^Mendelssohn expressed misgivings over the new type
of Christian enticement. Nonetheless, the edict was a signifi-
cant milestone on the road to full emancipation.

bibliography: P.P. Bernard, in: Austrian History Yearbook,
4-5 (1968-69), 101-19; see a l so bibliography "Joseph n.

TOLKOWSKY, SHEMUEL (1886-1965), agronomist and
Israel diplomat. Born in Antwerp, Belgium, Tolkowsky settled
in Erez Israel in 1911. In 1916-18 he served under Chaim *Weiz-
mann in London as member of the Zionist Political Commit-
tee, which negotiated the *Balfour Declaration, and was an
advisor on political matters. In 1918-19 he was the secretary
of the Zionist delegation in the Versailles Peace Conference.
Tolkowsky was active in various economic and public fields in
Tel Aviv. In 1949-56 he was consul general and later minister
of Israel in Berne, Switzerland. His books include The Gate-
way to Palestine - History of Jaffa (1924); Hesperides, A History
of the Culture and Use of Citrus Fruits (1938); and They Look
to the Sea (1964). His son dan (1921- ), born in Tel Aviv, was
a mechanical engineer, and served in the British Royal Air
Force as a flight lieutenant during World War 11. From 1948
he served in the Israel air force and from 1953 until 1958 was
its commander, attaining the rank of alluf

[Benjamin Jaffe]

TOLLER, ERNST (1893-1939), German playwright and revo-
lutionary. Born in Samotschin, Prussia, Toller was raised in an
assimilated Jewish family which prided itself on being repre-
sentative of German culture in a region heavily populated by

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOLSTOYE

Poles. He volunteered for the army at the outbreak of World
War i and after 13 months in the trenches at Verdun, was re-
leased as unfit for service. Tollers war experiences converted
him from ultranationalism to pacifistic socialism. In Berlin
he met Kurt *Eisner, and joined him in Munich as a mem-
ber of the Independent Socialist Party (uspd), participating
in strikes and anti-war agitation, as a result of which he was
briefly imprisoned. Toller was a leader of the short-lived Ba-
varian Soviet Republic of 1919 and he succeeded Eisner after
the latter s murder. Later he headed the Red Guard, but op-
posed needless violence. In June 1919, when the revolution
collapsed, he was hounded by the authorities and spent five
years in prison. It was while he was in jail that Toller wrote
his celebrated expressionistic dramas: Masse-Mensch (1921;
Masses and Man, 1923), Die Maschinenstuermer (1922; The Ma-
chine -Wreckers, 1923), Hinkemann (1924; Brokenbrow, 1926),
and Der entfesselte Wotan (1923), which called for a new and
more humane society and for man's liberation from the tyr-
anny of the machine. The verse collection, Das Schwalbenbuch
(1923; The Swallow-Book, 1924), contains some of the best po-
etry written during his imprisonment. After his release, Toller
visited the U.S.S.R. (1926) and the U.S. (1929), shedding some
of his Utopian ideas. His later plays, such as Hoppla wir lebenl
(1927; Hoppla, 1928), and Feuer aus den Kesseln (1930; Draw
the Fires, 1935), were less successful. Another drama, Wunder
in Amerika (1931), was written in collaboration with Hermann
* Kesten. Hitlers rise to power drove Toller into exile. His au-
tobiography, Fine Jugend in Deutschland (1933; / Was a Ger-
man, 1934), vividly depicted the hopes and frustrations of his
generation. Toller continued the struggle against the Nazis,
who regarded him with special hatred, throughout his years
of exile, first in Switzerland, then in France, England, and fi-
nally, from 1936, in the U.S. He was engaged in unremitting
efforts to help the cause of Spanish democracy but the fall of
Republican Madrid to Francos troops brought him a feeling
of increased isolation and despair which led him to commit
suicide in New York. Toller's last works include No More Peace
(1937) and Pastor Hall (in English only, 1939).

bibliography: W.A. Willibrand, Ernst Toller and his Ide-
ology (1945); S. Liptzin, Germany's Stepchildren (1961), 195-201; Exil

Literatur 1933-1945 (1967 3 ), 248-50.

[Sol Liptzin]

TOLSTOYE (Pol. Thuste), town in Tarnopol district, W.
Ukraine. Jews first settled in Tolstoye in the late 17 th century.
In the mid- 1720s ^Israel b. Eliezer, Baal Shem Tov, came to settle
with his family and from there he started to preach his doctrine
(1736). The gravestone of his mother was in the old local cem-
etery until World War 11. From the first partition of Poland in
1772 until 1918, Tolstoye was under Austrian rule. In the 19 th cen-
tury the Jews traded in agricultural produce, timber, cloth, and
beverages. They numbered 2,157 (67% of the total population)
in 1880; 2,172 (59%) in 1900; and 1,196 (46%) in 1921. Hasidism
was preponderant in Tolstoye; the wealthy members of the com-
munity (estate owners, contractors, and merchants of forest

produce and hides) were followers of the zaddik of Chortkov,
whereas shopkeepers, grain merchants, brokers, and scholars
adhered to Viznitsa Hasidism, and the artisans were followers
of the zaddik of Kopychintsy In 1914 and 1916 the Jews suffered
at the hands of the Russian army. Between the two world wars,
in independent Poland, all the Zionist parties were active in the
town and there was a *Tarbut Hebrew school.

[Shimshon Leib Kirshboim]

Holocaust Period

With the outbreak of war between Germany and the U.S.S.R.
(June 22, 1941), groups of Jewish youth attempted to escape to
the Soviet Union with the retreating Soviet army, but only a
few succeeded. The city was captured by the Hungarian army,
which was an ally of Germany. The Ukrainians attacked the
Jews and looted their property, and Jews were drafted into
work camps and agricultural farms in the area. In March 1942
the remnants of the Jewish communities of the entire area
were concentrated in Tolstoye. In July 1942, 200 people were
arrested and sent off in an "unknown direction." On Oct. 5,
1942, about 1,000 people were transported to the *Belzec death
camp and about 150 were killed on the spot. On May 27, 1943,
about 3,000 people were concentrated in the market square
and were taken from there to the Jewish cemetery, where they
were killed. About 1,000 people remained in the city, and they
were murdered in an Aktion on June 6, 1943. The last 80 Jews
were transported to Czortkow and found their deaths there.
Many of the Jews who had fled to the forests fell into the hands
of the fanatic Ukrainian Bandera gangs, but some of them
joined partisan units. The remnants of the Tolstoye commu-
nity were liberated from the camps in the area in March 1944.
They soon immigrated to Palestine and the West. Jewish life
was not reconstituted in Tolstoye after the war.

[Aharon Weiss]

bibliography: B. Wasiutyriski, Ludnosc zy do wska wPolsce w
wiekach xix i xx (1930), 141; G. Lindberg (ed.), Sefer Tluste (1965); I.
Alfasi, Sefer ha-Admorim (1961), 9, 10; Dubnow, Hasidut, 44, 48, 51.

TOLUSH (pseudonym of Iser Muselevitsh; 1887-1962), Yid-
dish writer, born in Dvinsk, Latvia. Orphaned at an early age,
he was virtually self-educated. Upon arriving in the U.S. in
1920, he shifted from writing in Russian to Yiddish. He worked
at numerous occupations and wandered across much of Eu-
rope, Palestine, and the U.S. The designation Tolush (Heb.
"detached" / "displaced") was given him by Z. *Shneour to
characterize his itinerant life. His writing, influenced by Gorky
and reflecting his wandering, introduced into Yiddish litera-
ture bohemian and unusual characters and settings. His works
include Der Yam Roysht ("The Sea Roars," 1921), A Zump ("A
Swamp," 1922), Voglenish ("Wandering," 1938), Yidishe Shray-
ber ("Yiddish Authors," 1953), and Mayn Tatns Nign ("My Fa-
ther's Melody," 1957).

bibliography: M. Halamish (ed.), Mi-Kan u-mi-Karov
(1966), 27-32; Rejzen, Leksikon, 4 (1929), 891-6. add. bibliogra-
phy: lnyl, 8 (1981), 804-5.

[Leonard Prager / Jerold C. Frakes (2 nd ed.)]

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOMASZOW LUBELSKI

TOMA, A. (originally Mo sco vici; 1875-1954), Romanian poet.
Toma contributed to Romania's socialist and Jewish press and
one of his poems, "Sion" ("Zion"), was often recited at Zionist
gatherings. His verse collections include Poezii (1926, 1930 2 )
and Cintul vietii (1950); a volume of children's poems, Piuicisi
fratii lui mici ("Piuici and his Little Brothers"), also appeared
in English (1956). A member of the Romanian Academy after
World War 11, he was a prolific translator and gained many
awards.

TOMAR (formerly Thomar), city in central Portugal. The
earliest record of Tomar Jews, a tombstone of a rabbi, Joseph
of Thomar, dated 1315, is found in *Faro's Jewish cemetery.
A magnificent i5 th -century synagogue on Rua de Joaquin
Jacinto, referred to in an old document as "Rua Nova que
foi judaria," reveals that there was a dynamic Jewish com-
munity in Tomar prior to the forced baptisms of 1497. The
residents of the judaria, called gente da nacao or "people of
the nation," were generally upper-class citizens. An * Inquisi-
tion tribunal was established at Tomar in 1540, and the first
* auto-da-fe was held on May 6, 1543. After a second auto-da-
fe, on June 20, 1544, the tribunal was suspended, owing per-
haps to the discovery of administrative abuses. It was closed
altogether with the publication on July 10, 1548 of a bull of
pardon directing the release of all persons then held by the
Inquisition.

On July 29, 1921, Tomar s historic synagogue building -
which had been confiscated and used by a Christian order
throughout the Inquisition period - was declared a national
monument by the Portuguese government. In 1922 the anti-
quarian Samuel *Schwarz took title to the building, establish-
ing there a museum for Judeo- Portuguese artifacts and in-
scriptions. Named Museu Luso-Hebraico Abraham Zacuto,
it contains a good collection of inscriptions from early syna-
gogues, including the notable stone from *Belmonte's 13 th -
century synagogue inscribed "And the Lord is in His holy
Temple, be still before Him all the land," where the Divine
Name is represented by three dots, in a manner also found in
the *Dead Sea Scrolls.

bibliography: M. Kayserling, Geschichte derjuden in Por-
tugal (1867), index; Roth, Marranos, 73; F.A. Garcez Teixeira, A An-
tiga Sinagoga de Tomar (1925); idem, A Familia Camoes em Tomar
(1922); S. Schwarz, Inscricoes Hebraicas em Portugal (1923); idem,
Museo Luso-Hebraico em Tomar (1939); American Sephardi (Au-
tumn 1970).

[Aaron Lichtenstein]

TOM ASH POL, town in Vinnitsa district, Ukraine; before
the 1917 Revolution in the administrative province of Podolia.
In 1847 there were 1,875 Jews living in Tomashpol. The town
developed extensively as a result of the sugar industry and
trade there. Between 1883 and 1918 Judah Leib *Levin (Ya-
halal) lived there, employed as an accountant in the factory
owned by the *Brodski family. There were 4,518 Jews (over
90% of the total population) in the town in 1897. During the
civil war many Jews in Tomashpol fell victims of the pogroms

perpetrated by the armies of *Denikin in February 1920. By
1926 the number of Jews in the town had decreased to 3,252

(54-3%).

After the German occupation of Tomashpol in 1941, the

Jews who remained there were murdered.

In the late 1960s the Jewish population was estimated at
1,000. There was no synagogue, the last remaining synagogue
having been confiscated in 1956 and converted into a tailor-
ing workshop.

bibliography: A.D. Rosenthal, Megillat ha-Tevah, 3 (1931),

60-63.

[Yehuda Slutsky]

TOMASZOW LUBELSKI, town in Lublin province, E. Po-
land; from 1772 to 1809 under Austria, and from 1815 within
Congress Poland. An organized Jewish community existed in
Tomaszow Lubelski from the 1630s, but it was almost entirely
annihilated in the *Chmielnicki massacres of 1648. The com-
munity was reorganized in the late 1650s. Its members earned
their livelihood from trade in agricultural produce, the fur
trade, tailoring, and inn keeping. The parnas of the commu-
nity, Jacob Levi Safra, was its delegate at the Council of Four
Lands (see ^Councils of Lands) in 1667. In the 1670s the rabbi
of the town was Isaac Shapira; he was succeeded by Judah b.
Nisan. R. Phinehas bar Meir of Tomaszow was martyred in
Lublin in 1677. There were 806 Jews in the town and its sur-
roundings who paid the poll-tax in 1765. From the beginning
of the 19 th century the community was increasingly influenced
by Hasidism. The Jewish population numbered 1,156 (43% of
the total) in 1827; 2,090 (57%) in 1857; and 3,646 (59%) in 1897.
At the close of the 19 th century the Jews of Tomaszow Lubelski,
among whom were many laborers, engaged in the operation of
flour- mills, processing wood, weaving, tailoring, baking, and
tanning. Between the two world wars, the Jewish population
increased from 4,643 (65%) in 1921 to 5,669 in 1931. A library
and Jewish sports club were established; branches of all the

Jewish parties were active.

[Arthur Cygielman]

Holocaust Period

On the outbreak of World War 11 there were about 6,000
Jews in Tomaszow. On Sept. 6, 1939, the Jewish quarter suf-
fered heavy German bombardment. The local synagogue
was burned down, and about 500 houses inhabited by Jews
were destroyed. The German army entered Tomaszow on
Sept. 13, 1939, but withdrew within two weeks, and the Soviet
army entered, only to return the town to the Germans after
a few days. Many Jews (over 75%) seized the opportunity of
leaving the town with the withdrawing Soviet army, and only
1,500 remained when the Germans returned. On Feb. 25,
1942, most of them were deported to the forced-labor camp
in Cieszanow, where almost all died. Many Jews fled into the
surrounding forests and attempted to hide there. A group of
young Jews under Mendel Heler and Meir Kalichmacher or-
ganized a Jewish partisan unit, which fought the Germans for
some time, but was betrayed by local Poles and annihilated.

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOMASZOW MAZOWIECKI

The Jewish community was not reconstituted in Tomaszow

Lubelski after the war.

[Stefan Krakowski]

bibliography: Halpern, Pinkas, index; B. Wasiutyriski,
Ludnosc zydowska w Polsce w wiekach xix i xx (1930), n, 16, 33, 60,
71; S. Bronsztejn, Ludnosc zydowska w Polsce w okresie miedzywojen-
nym (1963), 278; M. Weinreich, Shturmvint (1927), 176-80: Tomasho-
ver Yisker Bukh (1965).

TOMASZOW MAZOWIECKI (also called Tomaszow
Rawski), city in Lodz province, central Poland. The owner of
Tomaszow Mazowiecki, Count Antoni Adam Ostrowski, in-
vited Jewish weavers and entrepreneurs to settle there in the
1820s. Jacob Steinman from Ujazd acted as the counts agent
in charge of the area. Jewish merchants who came to settle re-
ceived building plots. They soon organized trade in local tex-
tile products. On the initiative of the manufacturer Leib Zilber
a Jewish community was officially founded in 1831, and was
granted sites for a synagogue, mikveh, hospital, and cemetery.
The first dozen Jewish families in the city earned their liveli-
hood as hired workers in the local weaving mills; later several
became managers and owners of various textile plants. After
the defeat of the Polish uprising of 1831, the Russian govern-
ment of Nicholas 1 confiscated the Ostrowski estates, includ-
ing Tomaszow Mazowiecki. Antoni Ostrowski went into ex-
ile in France, where he published Pomysfy potrzebie reformy
towarzyskiej ("Thoughts on the Necessity of Social Change,"
1834), in which he formulated a plan for improving the con-
ditions of the Jews in Poland.

The town grew from the early 1850s. The 1,879 Jews who
lived there in 1857 comprised 37% of the population. By 1897
the number of Jews had grown to 9,320 (47% of the popula-
tion); it increased to 10,070 in 1921 and 11,310 in 1931. The great
synagogue was built between 1864 and 1878. In 1889 a kasher
kitchen was built to cater for 120 Jewish soldiers serving in
the Russian army who were stationed in the area. The man-
ufacturer and community leader A. Landsberg paid for the
building of a community center and donated another build-
ing to house the city's first Jewish high school. The commu-
nity's first rabbi was Abraham Altschuler; Jacob Wieliczkier
served there from 1857 to 1888 and Hersh Aaron Israelewicz
from 1890 to 1916. In the 1880s David Bornstein founded a
textile mill to employ Jewish workers, thus assuring their
Sabbath observance. Besides weaving and spinning, the Jews
engaged in carpentry, dyeing, and construction; many were
employed as bookkeepers and foremen. In the early 20 th cen-
tury a Jewish workers' movement was organized. Between the
world wars all the Jewish political parties were active in the
city, especially the *Bund, *Po'alei Zion, and *Agudat Israel.
Ludwik Frucht served as deputy mayor from 1926. In 1921 two
schools merged to form the Hebrew high school. A Yiddish
weekly, Tomashover Vokhenblat y appeared between 1925 and
1939. Samuel ha-Levi Brot, a Mizrachi leader in Poland, offi-
ciated as rabbi between 1928 and 1936. In the 1930s the Jews
were damaged economically by the growing antisemitism. Na-
tives of Tomaszow Mazowiecki include Leon *Pinsker, whose

father taught in the city, the writer Moshe Dolzenovsky, and
the chess champion Samuel *Reshevsky. The mathematician
Hayyim Selig *Slonimski lived there between 1846 and 1858.

[Arthur Cygielman]

Holocaust Period

On the outbreak of World War 11 there were 13,000 Jews in
the town. In December 1940 a closed ghetto composed of
three isolated parts was established there. On March 11, 1941
the Jews from Plock were forced to settle there, so that the
town's Jewish population grew to over 15,000. On April 27,
1942 about 100 people, including many members of the local
underground, were arrested and shot. About 7,000 Jews were
deported to the *Treblinka death camp and murdered on Oct.
31, 1942. Three days later another 7,000 Tomaszow Jews met
their death in Treblinka. Only about 1,000 were left in the
ghetto, which became a forced-labor camp. In May 1943 the
ghetto was liquidated and its inmates transferred to the forced-
labor camps in Blizyna and Starachowice, where almost all of
them perished. No Jewish community was reconstituted in

Tomaszow Mazowiecki.

[Stefan Krakowski]

bibliography: B. Wasiutyriski, Ludnosc zydowska w Polsce
w wiekach xix i xx (1930), 28; S. Bronsztejn, Ludnosc zydowska w
Polsce w okresie miedzywojennym (1963), 278; M. Wejsberg (ed.),
Tomashov-Mazovyetsk Yisker Bukh (1969); A. Rutkowski, in: bzih,
15-16 (1955)-

TOMBS AND TOMBSTONES. Regular burial of the dead
in tombs was customary even in prehistoric times as a mani-
festation of the beginnings of religious ritual, both among
nomads and among settled peoples. In the Neolithic period,
deceased tribal heads were regarded as family or tribal totems
as attested by clay skulls, with human features, found at Jeri-
cho (Kenyon, in bibl.). In the Chalcolithic period it was cus-
tomary to bury the bones in dry ossuaries after the flesh had
disintegrated. There were various forms of ossuaries. Some-
times human features were engraved on the front of the os-
suary. ^Cemeteries of ossuaries were found mainly on the
coastal strip of Erez Israel. Death was viewed as a transition
to a different world, where life was continued. The dead and
their departed spirits were thought of as powerful, incompre-
hensible forces threatening the living with a limitless capacity
for harm or for good. It was thus customary to place offerings
of food and drink in special vessels, which were then buried
in the tomb together with the corpse. For example, a platter
with a lamb's head upon it has been found in a tomb at Afu-
lah. Gifts given to the dead, either for their use or to propitiate
them, were the items most highly prized by the person during
his lifetime. Thus, during the Middle Canaanite period it was
customary to "kill" the sword of the deceased after its owner's
death by bending it and making it useless. During the Late Ca-
naanite period, a man's war horse and chariot were symbolic
of his noble status. It was therefore customary to bury a no-
bleman's weapons and horse with him. In a number of graves
at Beth- Egl aim (Tell- c Ajul) horses are buried with their rid-

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOMBS AND TOMBSTONES

ers (Petrie, in bibl.). Burial customs were the most important
aspect of the early Egyptian cultic practices. These customs
accompanied the death of the king-gods, nobles, and upper
classes. The monumental architecture of the Egyptian burial
cities, the mummification of the kings, and the embalming
of sacred animals, all developed around the Egyptian burial
cult (Dawson, in bibl.). Such practices were employed in the
great, powerful, and stable kingdoms and in Mesopotamia,
though they were not found among the tribes who arrived in
Palestine with the wave of ethnic wanderings, during the pa-
triarchal period of the second millennium b.c.e. These wan-
dering tribes did, however, continue the practice of burying
various offerings together with their dead, as was customary
from the Early Canaanite period on.

During the time of the Patriarchs, when there was a
change from tribal wanderings to permanent settlement, a
new element was added to the burial customs. A permanent
grave site was purchased in the vicinity of the settlement
which was a significant indication of permanent settlement.
Herein lies the importance of Abrahams purchase of a family
tomb (Gen. 23:4). Jacobs request that he be buried at this place
rather than in Egypt may be understood against this back-
ground (Gen. 47:29). Josephs burial in Shechem in the land
of his ancestors (Josh. 24:32) must be seen as part of the pro-
cess of Exodus from Egypt and the conquest and settlement
of Palestine. This identification of the patriarchal tomb with
the Promised Land may be discerned in Nehemiah's remark
to the Persian king from whom he requested permission to
go to Palestine to rebuild its ruins: ". . . the place of my fathers
sepulchers lies waste. . ." (Neh. 2:3). For a long period of time,
from the Patriarchs until the establishment of the monarchy,
it was customary to bury the dead in a family plot (Heb. bet
^avotam) in an effort to maintain contact with the place (e.g.,
Judg. 2:9; 1 Sam. 25:1).

During the period of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel,
sepulchers for kings and nobles were established: "and they
buried him [Uzziah] with his fathers in the burial field which
belonged to the kings" (11 Chron. 26:23). Special mention
should be made of the discovery of an engraved tablet bear-
ing the name of Uzziah king of Judah. The tablet cannot be
the original one which marked the grave, since its script and
its general form are of the Second Temple period. It appears
that for various reasons the king's bones were transferred
during this period. Noblemen and officers also merited lav-
ish burial. The prophet, fighting the corrupt nobility, deni-
grates the elegant tombs, hewn out of the rocks (Isa. 22:16).
The carving of tombs in elevated places is reminiscent of the
grave sites above the Kidron Brook in Jerusalem (Avigad, in
bibl.). A number of hewn graves dating to the period of the
kings have been found at this location. The most striking of
them is a hewn tomb, upon whose lintel appears a dedication
to some person who held an administrative position: ". . .who
was over the household." The name of this person ends with
the syllable yhw. Conceivably, it may be the same Shebna
(Shebaniahu) mentioned in Isaiah 22:16 [15]. Another tomb

from the same period is the one called "the grave of Pharaohs
daughter." This tomb is cut from rock into the shape of a cube.
It has a small entrance and contains the remains of a striking
structure, perhaps pyramidal, on its roof. During certain pe-
riods grave markers or tombstones were part of the grave it-
self (Gen. 35:20). The most luxurious graves from this period
found, for example, at Achzib, are hewn according to Phoe-
nician design. The burial cave has a vaulted ceiling, cut as
much as 10 m. (33 ft.) deep into the rock. At its end is a cata-
falque hewn out of rock, upon which the corpse was placed.
In order to elevate the head of the corpse, a stone was placed
beneath it, or a projection shaped like a raised pillow was left
on the catafalque. As a result of the custom of burying items
of value from the deceased s lifetime along with him, there
arose a class of grave robbers in the Ancient East. To prevent
such incursions, complicated grave sealing techniques were
developed, along with difficult entrance and exit passages from
the interior of the tombs. In many instances it was customary
to warn grave robbers against entering. The tomb of ". . .yhw
who was over the household" (mentioned above) contains
the inscription: "Cursed be he who opens this." This is simi-
lar to the inscriptions common in the Second Temple Period,
which contained the name of the deceased and a warning not
to open the grave.

Thousands of tombs have been unearthed and investi-
gated during the years of archaeological activities in Israel.
Several characteristic grave types have been found:

(1) A communal grave within a cave from the Middle Ca-
naanite period, like one found at Jericho. Dozens of skeletons
were found in the cave as well as the offerings buried there
(Garstang, in bibl.). In this case, a household or family used
a natural cave, which served it for several generations. This
type of mausoleum, consisting of some land and a cave, was no
doubt the kind acquired by Abraham from Ephron the Hittite
near Hebron, when he came to settle permanently in Palestine.
The patriarchal sepulcher remained traditional among the
people even as late as Herod's time. Among his massive build-
ing projects throughout the land, he constructed a Roman-
style monument over the patriarchal tomb in Hebron. This
monument was intended as an architectural marker of the
site and its sanctity.

(2) During the same Middle Canaanite period pit burials
were common. For this purpose either natural caves were used
or circular or rectangular pits were dug out of the earth to a
depth of one to 2 m. (3-6 ft.). The walls of the pit contained
the burial niches into which were placed the bodies and the of-
ferings. Each niche would be sealed with a single large stone,
and the central pit would be filled in up to ground level, thus
preventing any approach to the graves themselves.

(3) In addition to family graves, individual tombs have
been found. These too contain gifts to accompany the deceased
to his new life. Generally, these gifts were eating and drinking
utensils, jewelry, personal seals, etc. The finds from tombs are
many and variegated, and by their nature are better preserved
than finds from the usual, exposed ancient sites.

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOMBS AND TOMBSTONES

(4) Among the graves unearthed from the Late Canaanite
period are pit tombs, of the style of the prior period, both of
family as well as of individual types and simple inhumations.
Graves from this period have been found at Tell Abu Hawam
(Hamilton, in bibl.), Achzib, and elsewhere. Special attention
was given to the manner in which the body was placed in the
grave. Generally, the hands were folded and the legs stretched
out. The custom of burying gifts with the dead continued into
the Late Canaanite period. Offerings in these graves are either
local or imported implements.

(5) At the end of this period another form of burial ap-
pears. The corpse is placed into two large ossuaries, or jugs,
whose necks have been removed, so that the bodies of the jugs
enclose the corpse from the feet up and from the head down.
These graves, too, contain offerings and weapons that served
the deceased during his lifetime.

(6) At the end of the second millennium B.C. e., with the
advent of the Philistines in the land, sites with Philistine pop-
ulation, such as Beth-Shean, exhibit different burial methods.
The corpse was provided with a clay coffin, longer than the
body. The coffin had a cover near the head, decorated with
human features. Such decoration was intended to symbolize
the personality of the deceased. The engraved hats and dia-
dems resemble the headdress of the Philistines portrayed on
ancient Egyptian monuments (Dothan, in bibl.).

(7) A large quantity of graves, including pit tombs, burial
caves, rock-hewn tombs, and individual grave sites, from the
Israelite period, have been found at Megiddo, Hazor, Beth-
Shean, and other sites. The offerings placed in these graves are
usually pottery vessels, such as jars and flasks, some of them
imported, as well as jewelry and seals.

(8) The Israelite 11 and the Persian periods reveal tombs
hewn into caves with ledges provided for the corpses, known
mainly from the Shephelah and the coastal strip. Tombs of
Phoenician style are especially to be found in the Athlit area
(Hamilton, in bibl.). These are in the shape of a four-sided pit
hewn into the hard rock, with ladderlike sockets for hands
and feet, to be used in climbing down the pit. At the bottom
of the pit there are one or more hewn openings to the burial
niches themselves. These are sealed with large stones. The en-
trance pit itself is filled with earth and stones to block off the
entrance to the graves.

(9) With the close of the Persian period and the begin-
ning of the Hellenistic, the most common form of grave con-
sisted of rock tombs, with raised shelves or ledges, or troughs
resembling coffins, near the walls. The typical cave ceiling
of this period is in the form of a large camel hump, as in the
case of a grave found at Marissah. The walls and ceiling of this
grave are decorated with drawings. A tomb of similar design
has been found at Nazareth.

See also * Judaism.

[Louis Isaac Rabinowitz]

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TORAH

Origin and Preexistence

"Moses received the Torah from Sinai" (Avot 1:1). Yet there is
an ancient tradition that the Torah existed in heaven not only
before God revealed it to Moses, but even before the world was
created. The apocryphal book The Wisdom of Ben Sira identi-
fied the Torah with preexistent personified wisdom (1:1-5, 2 6;
15:1; 24:iff.; 34:8; cf. Prov 8:22-31). In rabbinic literature, it was
taught that the Torah was one of the six or seven things cre-
ated prior to the creation of the world (Gen. R. 1:4; Pes. 54a, et
al.). Of these preexistent things, it was said that only the Torah
and the throne of glory were actually created, while the others
were only conceived, and that the Torah preceded the throne
of glory (Gen. R. 1:4). According to Eliezer ben Yose the Gali-
lean, for 974 generations before the creation of the world, the
Torah lay in God's bosom and joined the ministering angels in
song (arn 1 31, p. 91; cf. Gen. R. 28:4, et al.). Simeon ben Lak-
ish taught that the Torah preceded the world by 2,000 years
(Lev. R. 19:1, et al.) and was written in black fire upon white fire
(tj, Shek. 6:1, 49d, et al.). Akiva called the Torah "the precious
instrument by which the world was created" (Avot 3:14). Rav
*Hoshaiah, explicitly identifying the Torah with the preexis-
tent wisdom of Proverbs, said that God created the world by
looking into the Torah as an architect builds a palace by look-
ing into blueprints. He also took the first word of Genesis not
in the sense of "In the beginning," but in that of "By means of
the beginning," and he taught that "beginning" (probably in
the philosophic sense of the Greek arche) designates Torah,
since it is written of wisdom (= Torah), "The Lord made me
the beginning of His way" (Prov. 8:22; Gen. R. 1:1). It was also
taught that God took council with the Torah before He cre-
ated the world (Tanh. B. 2, et al.). The concept of the preex-
istence of the Torah is perhaps implicit in the philosophy of
Philo, who wrote of the preexistence and role in creation of
the Word of God (logos; e.g., Op. 20, 25, 36; Cher. 127) and
identified the Word of God with the Torah (Mig. 130; cf. Op.
and 11 Mos.).

*Saadiah Gaon rejected the literal belief in preexistent
things on the grounds that it contradicts the principle of cre-
ation ex nihilo. In his view, Proverbs 8:22, the verse cited by
Rav Hoshaiah, means no more than that God created the
world in a wise manner (Beliefs and Opinions 1:3; cf. Saadiah's
commentary on Proverbs, ad loc).

* Judah b. Barzillai of Barcelona raised the problem of
place. Where could God have kept a preexistent Torah? While
allowing that God could conceivably have provided an ante-
mundane place for a corporeal Torah, he preferred the inter-
pretation that the Torah preexisted only as a thought in the
divine mind. Ultimately, however, he expressed the opinion
that the Torah s preexistence is a rabbinic metaphor, spoken
out of love for the Torah and those who study it, and teach-
ing that the Torah is worthy to have been created before the
world (commentary on Sefer Yezirah, pp. 88-89; cf- Solomon
b. Abraham Adret, Perushei Aggadot).

Abraham *Ibn Ezra raised the problem of time. He
wrote that it is impossible for the Torah to have preceded the

world by 2,000 years or even by one moment, since time
is an accident of motion, and there was no motion before
God created the celestial spheres; rather, he concluded, the
teaching about the To rail's preexistence must be a metaphoric
riddle (cf. Commentary on the Torah, introd., "the fourth
method" (both versions); cf. also Judah Hadassi, Eshkol ha-
Kofer, 25b-26a; and cf. Abraham Shalom, Neveh Shalom,
10:8).

* Judah Halevi explained that the Torah precedes the
world in terms of teleology; God created the world for the
purpose of revealing the Torah; therefore, since, as the phi-
losophers say, "the first of thought is the end of the work,"
the Torah is said to have existed before the world (Kuzari

373)-

*Maimonides discussed the origin of the Torah from

the standpoint of the epistemology of the unique prophecy
of Moses (Guide of the Perplexed 2:35; 3:51; et al.; cf. Yad, in-
trod.). The tradition of the preexistence of the Torah was not
discussed in the Guide of the Perplexed; however, the closely
related tradition of the preexistence of the throne of glory was
(2:26, 30, et al.). The discussions of Moses' prophecy and of
the throne of glory are esoteric and controversial, and each
reader will interpret them according to his own views, per-
haps inferring Maimonides' position concerning the origin
of the Torah.

Within the framework of his Neoplatonic ontology, Isaac
ibn Latif suggested that the Torah precedes the world not in
time, but in rank. He cited the aggadic statements that the
Torah and the throne of glory preceded the world, and that
the Torah preceded the throne of glory, and he intimated that
the Torah is the upper world (wisdom or intellect) which on-
tologically precedes the middle world (the celestial spheres,
the throne of glory) which, in turn, ontologically precedes
the lower world (our world of changing elements; Shaar ha-
Shamayim).

While the tradition of the preexistence of the Torah was
being ignored or explained away by most philosophers, it be-
came fundamental in the Kabbalah. Like Ibn Latif, the kab-
balists of Spain held that the Torah precedes the world on-
tologically. Some kabbalists identified the primordial Torah
with Hokhmah (God's wisdom), the second of the ten Sefirot in
emanation. Others identified the Written Torah with the sixth
Sefirah, Tiferet (God's beauty), and the Oral Torah with the
tenth Sefirah, Malkhut (God's kingdom). Emanational prece-
dence signifies creative power; and it was with the Torah that
God created the angels and the worlds, and with the Torah He
sustains all (Zohar 3, 152a; Num. 9:1).

Hasdai *Crescas, who in the course of his revolutionary
critique of Aristotelian physics had rejected the dependence
of time on motion, was able to take preexistence literally as
chronological. He interpreted the proposition about the pre-
existence of the Torah as a metonymy, referring actually to
the purpose of the Torah. Since, according to him, the pur-
pose of the Torah and the purpose of the world are the same,
namely, love, and since the purpose or final cause of an object

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TORAH

chronologically precedes it, it follows that the purpose of the
To rah (i.e., love) chronologically preceded the world. As its
final cause, love (= the purpose of the Torah) is a necessary
condition of the world; and this is the meaning of the talmu-
dic statement, "Were it not for the Torah [i.e., the purpose of
the Torah, or love] , heaven and earth would not have come
into existence" (Pes. 68b; Or Adonai i:6 y 4; cf. Nissim b. Reu-
ben Gerondi, Commentary on Ned. 39b).

Joseph *Albo also interpreted the preexistence of the
Torah in terms of final causality, but his position was essen-
tially that of Judah Halevi, and not that of his teacher, Crescas.
He reasoned that man exists for the sake of the Torah; every-
thing in the world of generation and corruption exists for
the sake of man; therefore, the Torah preceded the world
in the Aristotelian sense that the final cause in (the mind
of) the agent necessarily precedes the other three causes (Sefer
ha-Ikkarim 3:12; cf. Jacob b. Solomon ibn Habib, Ein Yaakov,
introd.; Joseph Solomon Delmedigo, Novelot Hokhmah y 1).

The theory, based on the statement of Rav Hoshaiah,
that the Torah was the preexistent blueprint of creation, was
elaborated by Isaac Arama, Isaac Abrabanel, Moses Alshekh,
Judah Loew b. Bezalel, and others.

In modern Jewish philosophical literature, Nachman
*Krochmal analyzed the interpretation of the Torah's preex-
istence by the author of Shaar ha-Shamayim (Ibn Latif and
not, as Krochmal supposed, Ibn Ezra), and his analysis bears
implications for his own idealistic concept of the metaphysi-
cal and epistemological precedence of the spiritual (Moreh
Nevukhei ha-Zeman, 17; cf. 12, 16).

Franz Rosenzweig, in his existentalist reaction to the
intellectualist interpretation of the Torah by German rabbis,
appealed to the aggadah of the preexistence of the Torah in
an attempt to show the absurdity of trying to base the claim
of the Torah merely on a juridical or historical reason: "No
doubt the Torah, both Written and Oral, was given to Moses
on Sinai, but was it not created before the creation of the
world? Written against a background of shining fire in let-
ters of somber flame? And was not the world created for its
sake?" ("The Builders," in: N. Glatzer (ed.), On Jewish Learn-
ing (i955)> 78).

Nature and Purpose

In the Bible, the Torah is referred to as the Torah of the Lord
(Ex. 13:9, et al.) and of Moses (Josh. 8:31, et al.), and is said to
be given as an inheritance to the congregation of Jacob (Deut.
33:4). Its purpose seems to be to make Israel "a kingdom of
priests and a holy nation" (Ex. 19:6). It was said that "the
commandment is a lamp and the Torah is light" (Prov. 6:23).
The Torah was called "perfect," its ordinances "sweeter than
honey and the flow of honeycombs" (Ps. 19:8, 11; cf. 119:103;
Prov. 16:24). Psalm 119, containing 176 verses, is a song of
love for the Torah whose precepts give peace and under-
standing.

In the apocryphal book The Wisdom of Ben Sira, the
Torah is identified with wisdom (see above). In another apoc-

ryphal work, the laws of the Torah are said to be drawn up
"with a view to truth and the indication of right reason" (Arist.
161). The Septuagint rendered the Hebrew torah by the Greek
nomos ("law"), probably in the sense of a living network of
traditions and customs of a people. The designation of the
Torah by nomos y and by its Latin successor lex (whence, "the
Law"), has historically given rise to the sad misunderstanding
that Torah means legalism.

It was one of the very few real dogmas of rabbinic the-
ology that the Torah is from heaven (Heb. Torah min ha-
shamayim; Sanh. 10:1, et al.; cf. Ex. 20:22 [19]; Deut. 4:36);
i.e., the Torah in its entirety was revealed by God. Accord-
ing to the aggadah , Moses ascended into heaven to capture
the Torah from the angels (Shab. 89a, et al.). In one of the
oldest mishnaic statements, Simeon the Just taught that (the
study of the) Torah is one of the three things by which the
world is sustained (Avot 1:2). Eleazar ben Shammua said:
"Were it not for the Torah, heaven and earth would not con-
tinue to exist" (Pes. 68b; Ned. 32a; cf. Crescas' interpreta-
tion above). It was calculated that "the whole world in its en-
tirety is only ^3,200 of the Torah" (Er. 21a; cf. tj, Pe'ah 1:1, isd).
God Himself was said to study the Torah daily ( Av. Zar. 3b,
et al.).

The Torah was often compared to fire, water, wine, oil,
milk, honey, drugs, manna, the tree of life, and many other
things; it was considered the source of freedom, goodness,
and life (e.g., Avot 6:2, 3, 7); it was identified both with wis-
dom and with love (e.g., Mid. Ps. to 1:18). Hillel summarized
the entire Torah in one sentence: "What is hateful to you, do
not to your fellow" (Shab. 31a). Akiva said: "The fundamental
principle of the Torah is the commandment, 'Love thy neigh-
bor as thyself" (Lev. 19:18). His disciple Simeon ben Azzai
said that its fundamental principle is the verse (Gen. 5:1) which
teaches that all human beings are descended from the same
man, and created by God in His image (Sifra, Kedoshim 4:12;
tj, Ned. 9:3, 41c; Gen. R. 24:7).

Often the Torah was personified. Not only did God
take council with the Torah before He created the world (see
above), but according to one interpretation, the plural in "Let
us make man" (Gen. 1:26) refers to God and the Torah (Tanh.
Pekudei, 3). The Torah appears as the daughter of God and
the bride of Israel (pr 20; 95a, et al.). On occasion, the Torah
is obliged to plead the case of Israel before God (e.g., Ex. R.
29:4).

The message of the Torah is for all mankind. Before giv-
ing the Torah to Israel, God offered it to the other nations, but
they refused it; and when He did give the Torah to Israel, He
revealed it in the extraterritorial desert and simultaneously
in all the 70 languages, so that men of all nations would have
a right to it (Mekh., Yitro, 5; Sif. Deut. 343; Shab. 88b; Ex. R.
5:9; 27:9; cf. Av. Zar. 3a: "a pagan who studies the Torah is like
a high priest"). Alongside this universalism, the rabbis taught
the inseparability of Israel and the Torah. One rabbi held that
the concept of Israel existed in God's mind even before He
created the Torah (Gen. R. 1:4). Yet, were it not for its accept-

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TORAH

ing the Torah, Israel would not be "chosen," nor would it be
different from all the idolatrous nations (Num. 14:10; Ex. R.
47:3, et al.).

In the Hellenistic literature contemporaneous with the
early rabbinic teachings, Philo considered the Torah the
ideal law of the philosophers, and Moses the perfect lawgiver
and prophet and the philosopher-ruler of Plato's Republic
(11 Mos. 2). His concept of the relationship of the Torah to
nature and man was Stoic: "The world is in harmony with
the Torah and the Torah with the world, and the man who
observes the Torah is constituted thereby a loyal citizen of
the world" (Op. 3). He wrote that the laws of the Torah are
"stamped with the seals of nature," and are "the most perfect
picture of the cosmic polity" (11 Mos. 14, 51). Josephus, in his
Against Apion, discoursed on the moral and universalistic na-
ture of the Torah, emphasizing that it promotes piety, friend-
ship, humanity toward the world at large, justice, charity, and
endurance under persecution. Both Philo and Josephus wrote
that principles of the Torah, e.g., the Sabbath, have been imi-
tated by all nations.

Saadiah Gaon expounded a rationalist theory according
to which the ethical and religious -intellectual beliefs imparted
by the Torah are all attainable by human reason. He held that
the Torah is divisible into

(1) commandments which, in addition to being revealed,
are demanded by reason (e.g., prohibitions of murder, forni-
cation, theft, lying); and

(2) commandments whose authority is revelation alone
(e.g., Sabbath and dietary laws), but which generally are un-
derstandable in terms of some personal or social benefit at-
tained by their performance. Revelation of the Torah was
needed because while reason makes general demands, it does
not dictate particular laws; and while the matters of religious
belief revealed in the Torah are attainable by philosophy, they
are only attained by it after some time or, in the case of many,
not at all. He taught that the purpose of the Torah is the be-
stowal of eternal bliss (Beliefs and Opinions, introd. 6, ch. 3).
He held that Israel is a nation only by virtue of the Torah (see
below).

In the period between Saadiah and Maimonides, most
Jewish writers who speculated on the nature of the Torah
continued in the rationalist tradition established by Saadiah.
These included Bahya ibn Paquda, Joseph ibn Zaddik, Abra-
ham Ibn Ezra, and Abraham ibn Daud. Judah Halevi, how-
ever, opposed the rationalist interpretation. He allowed that
the Torah contains rational and political laws, but considered
them preliminary to the specifically divine laws and teachings
which cannot be comprehended by reason, e.g., the laws of the
Sabbath which teach the omnipotence of God and the creation
of the world (Kuzari 2:48, 50). The Torah makes it possible to
approach God by awe, love, and joy (2:50). It is the essence
of wisdom, and the outcome of the will of God to reveal His
kingdom on earth as it is in heaven (3:17). While Judah Halevi
held that Israel was created to fulfill the Torah, he wrote that
there would be no Torah were there no Israel (2:56; 3:73).

Maimonides emphasized that the Torah is the product of
the unique prophecy of Moses. He maintained that the Torah
has two purposes; first, the welfare of the body and, ultimately,
the welfare of the soul (intellect). The first purpose, which is
a prerequisite of the ultimate purpose, is political, and "con-
sists in the governance of the city and the well-being of the
state of all its people according to their capacity." The ultimate
purpose consists in the true perfection of man, his acquisition
of immortality through intellection of the highest things. The
Torah is similar to other laws in its concern with the welfare
of the body; but its divine nature is reflected in its concern for
the welfare of the soul (Guide of the Perplexed, 3:27). Maimo-
nides saw the Torah as a rationalizing force, warring against
superstition, imagination, appetite, and idolatry. He cited the
rabbinic dictum, "Everyone who disbelieves in idolatry pro-
fesses the Torah in its entirety" (Sif. Num. 110; Guide 3:29; Yad,
Ovedei Kokhavim 2:4), and taught that the foundation of the
Torah and the pivot around which it turns consists in the ef-
facement of idolatry. He held that the Torah must be inter-
preted in the light of reason.

Of the Jewish philosophers who flourished in the 13 th and
early 14 th centuries, most endorsed Maimonides' position that
the Torah has as its purpose both political and spiritual wel-
fare. Some, like Samuel ibn Tibbon and Isaac *Albalag, argued
that its purpose consists only or chiefly in political welfare.
Others emphasized its spiritual purpose, like Levi b. Gershom,
who taught that the purpose of the Torah is to guide man - the
masses as well as the intellectual elite - toward human perfec-
tion, that is, the acquisition of true knowledge and, thereby,
an immortal intellect.

While Maimonides and the Maimonideans generally
restricted their analyses of the nature of the Torah to questions
of its educational, moral, or political value, the Spanish kab-
balists engaged in bold metaphysical speculation concerning
its essence. The kabbalists taught that the Torah is a living
organism. Some said the entire Torah consists of the names
of God set in succession (cf. Nahmanides, Perushei ha-
Torahy Preface) or interwoven into a fabric (cf. Joseph Gi-
katilla, Shaarei Orah). Others said that the Torah is itself the
name of God. The Torah was identified with various Sefirot
in the divine body (see above). Ultimately, it was said that
the Torah is God (Menahem Recanati, Taamei ha-Mitzvot,
3a; Zohar 2, 60a [Ex. 15:22]). This identification of the Torah
and God was understood to refer to the Torah in its true pri-
mordial essence, and not to its manifestation in the world of
creation.

The first Jewish philosopher to construct a metaphysics
in which the Torah plays an integral role was Hasdai Crescas,
who, notwithstanding his distinguished work in natural sci-
ence, was more sympathetic to the Kabbalah than to Aristo-
tle. He taught that the purpose of the Torah is to effect the
purpose of the universe. By guiding man toward corporeal
happiness, moral and intellectual excellence, and felicity of
soul, the Torah leads him to the love of neighbor and, finally,
the eternal love of God [devekut], which is the purpose of all

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TORAH

creation (Or Adonai y 2:6). Like Judah Halevi, he took an ul-
timately anti-intellectualist position, and maintained, in op-
position to the Maimonideans, that the very definition of the
Torah as the communication of God to man implies beliefs
about the nature of God and His relation to man which can-
not, and need not, be proved by philosophy.

Joseph Albo, developing some Maimonidean ideas,
taught that the Torah, as divine law, is superior to natural law
and conventional-positive law in that it not only promotes po-
litical security and good behavior, but also guides man toward
eternal spiritual happiness (Sefer ha-Ikkarim y 1:7).

In the writings of Isaac Arama, Isaac Abrabanel, Moses
Alshekh, Judah Loew b. Bezalel, and other late medievals,
the conflicting approaches to the Torah of Maimonideanism
and the Kabbalah converged to give expression to the theme,
already adumbrated in Philo, that the Torah exists in the
mind of God as the plan and order of the universe (Arama,
Akedat Yizhak, 1; Abrabanel, Mifalot Elohim, 1:2; Alshekh,
Tor at Moshe to Genesis 1:1; Judah Loew, Netivot Olam, 1:1;
Tiferet Yisrael, 25; cf. above). In Italy, *Judah b. Jehiel (Messer
Leon), influenced by the Renaissance emphasis on the art of
rhetoric, composed the Nofet Zufim, in which he analyzed
the language of the Bible and, in effect, presented the first
aesthetic interpretation of the Torah (cf. Judah Abrabanel,
Dialoghi di Amore).

Influenced by Maimonides, Baruch *Spinoza took the
position taken by some early Maimonideans that the Torah is
an exclusively political law. However, he broke radically with
those Maimonideans and with all rabbinic tradition by deny-
ing its divine nature, by making it an object of historical-criti-
cal investigation, and by maintaining that it was not written by
Moses alone but by various authors living at different times.
Moreover, he considered the Torah primitive, unscientific,
and particularistic, and thus subversive to progress, reason,
and universal morality. By portraying the Torah as a product
of the Jewish people, he reversed the traditional opinion (but
cf. Judah Halevi) according to which the Jewish people are a
product of the Torah.

Like Spinoza, Moses ^Mendelssohn considered the Torah
a political law, but he affirmed its divine nature. Taking a po-
sition similar to Saadiah's, he explained that the Torah does
not intend to reveal new ideas about deism and morality, but
rather, through its laws and institutions, to arouse men to be
mindful of the true ideas attainable by all men through rea-
son. By identifying the beliefs of the Torah with the truths of
reason, Mendelssohn affirmed both its scientific respectability
and its universalistic nature. By defining the Torah as a po-
litical law given to Israel by God, he preserved the traditional
view that Israel is a product of the Torah, and not, as Spinoza
claimed, vice versa.

With the rise of the science of Judaism (Wissenschaft des
Judentums) in the 19 th century, and the advance of the histori-
cal-critical approach to the Torah, many Jewish intellectuals,
including ideologists of Reform like Abraham * Geiger, fol-
lowed Spinoza in seeing the Torah, at least in part, as a prod-

uct of the primitive history of the Jewish nation. Nachman
Krochmal, in his rationalist-idealist philosophy, attempted
to synthesize the historical-critical thesis that the Torah is a
product of Jewish history, with the traditional thesis that the
entire Torah is divinely revealed. He maintained that, from
the days of Abraham and Isaac, the Hebrew nation has con-
tained the Absolute Spiritual, and this Absolute Spiritual was
the source of the laws given to Moses on Mt. Sinai, whose
purpose is to perfect the individual and the group, and to
prevent the nations extinction. The Oral Torah, which is, in
effect, the history of the evolution of the Jewish spirit, is in-
separable from the Written Torah, and is its clarification and
conceptual refinement; which is to say, the true science of the
Torah, which is the vocation of the Jewish spirit, is the con-
ceptualization of the Absolute Spiritual (Moreh Nevukhei ha-
Zeman y esp. 6-8, 13).

The increasing intellectualization of the Torah was op-
posed by Samuel David *Luzzatto and Salomon Ludwig *Stein-
heim, two men who had little in common but their fideism.
They contended - as Crescas had against the Maimonide-
ans - that the belief that God revealed the Torah is the start-
ing point of Judaism, and that this belief, with its momentous
implications concerning the nature of God and His relation
to man, cannot be attained by philosophy. Luzzatto held that
the foundation of the whole Torah is compassion. Steinheim,
profoundly opposing Mendelssohn, held that the Torah comes
to reveal truths about God and His work.

While Spinoza and Mendelssohn had emphasized the
political nature of the Torah, many rationalists of the late
19 th and early 20 th centuries emphasized its moral nature.
Moritz *Lazarus identified the Torah with the moral law,
and interpreted the rabbinical statement, "Were it not for
the Torah, heaven and earth would not continue to exist"
(see above), as corresponding to the Kantian teaching that it is
the moral law that gives value to existence. Hermann * Cohen
condemned Spinoza as a willful falsifier and a traitor to
the Jewish people for his claim that the Torah is subversive
to universalistic morality. He held that the Torah, with its
monotheistic ethics, far from being subversive to univer-
salism, prepares a Jew to participate fully and excellently
in general culture (in this connection, he opposed Zionism
and developed his controversial theory of "Germanism and
Judaism"). He maintained that in its promulgation of com-
mandments affecting all realms of human action, the Torah
moves toward overcoming the distinction between holy and
profane through teaching all men to become holy by always
performing holy actions, i.e., by always acting in accordance
with the moral law.

In their German translation of the Bible, Martin *Bu-
ber and Franz Rosenzweig translated torah as Weisung or
Unterweisung ("Instruction") and not as Gesetz ("Law"). In
general, they agreed on the purpose of the Torah: to convert
the universe and God from It to Thou. Yet they differed on
several points concerning its nature. Buber saw the Torah as
the past dialogue between Israel and God, and the present

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TORAH

dialogue between the individual reader, the I, and God, the
Thou. He concluded that while one must open himself to the
entire teaching of the To rah, he need only accept a particular
law of the To rah if he feels that it is being spoken now to him.
Rosenzweig objected to this personalist and antinomian po-
sition of Buber s. Taking an existentialist position, he main-
tained that the laws of the Torah are commandments to do,
and as such become comprehensible only in the experience
of doing, and, therefore, a Jew must not, as Buber did, reject
a law of the Torah that "does not speak to me," but must al-
ways open himself to the new experience which may make it
comprehensible. Like Cohen - and also like the Hasidim - he
marveled that the law of the Torah is universal in range. He
contended that it erases the barrier between this world and
the world to come by encompassing, vitalizing, and thereby
redeeming everything in this world.

The secular Zionism of the late 19 th and early 20 th centu-
ries gave religious thinkers new cause to define the relationship
between the Torah and the Jewish nation. Some defined the
Torah in terms of the nation. Thus, Mordecai *Kaplan trans-
lated *Ahad Ha-Am's sociological theory of the evolution of
Jewish civilization into a religious, though naturalistic, theory
of the Torah as the "religious civilization of the Jews." Others,
like Buber and Rosenzweig, considering secular nationalism
dangerous, tried to "interdefine" the Torah and the nation.
Whereas Buber saw the Torah as the product of a dialogue be-
tween the nation and God, he held that the spirit of the nation
was transfigured by that dialogue. Rosenzweig, whose posi-
tion here resembles Judah Halevi's, stated both that the nation's
chosenness is prior to the Torah, and that the acceptance of
the Torah is an experiential precondition of its chosenness.
Other thinkers defined the nation in terms of the Torah. Thus,
Abraham Isaac * Kook, whose thought was influenced by the
Kabbalah, taught that the purpose of the Torah is to reveal the
living light of the universe, the suprarational spiritual, to Israel
and, through Israel, to all mankind. While the Written Torah,
which reveals the light in the highest channel of our soul, is
the product of God alone, the Oral Torah, which is inseparable
from the Written Torah, and which reveals the light in a sec-
ond channel of our soul, proximate to the life of deeds, derives
its personality from the spirit of the nation. The Oral Torah
can live in its fullness only when Israel lives in its fullness - in
peace and independence in the Land of Israel. Thus, according
to Kook, modern Zionism, whatever the intent of its secular
ideologists, has universal religious significance, for it is acting
in service of the Torah (see esp. Orot ha-Torah) .

In the State of Israel, most writers and educators have
maintained the secularist position of the early Zionists,
namely, that the Torah was not revealed by God, in the tradi-
tional sense, but is the product of the national life of ancient
Israel. Those who have discussed the Torah and its relation to
the state from a religious point of view have mostly followed
Kook or Buber and Rosenzweig. However, a radically ratio-
nalist approach to the nature of the Torah has been taught by
Yeshayahu Leibowitz who, in the Maimonidean tradition, em-

phasizes that the Torah is a law for the worship of God and
for the consequent obliteration of the worship of men and
things; in this connection, he condemns the subordination
of the Torah to nationalism or to religious sentimentalism or
to any ideology or institution. Outside the State of Israel, a
similarly iconoclastic position has been taken by the French
phenomenologist Emmanuel *Levinas, who has gone fur-
ther and written that the love for the Torah should take pre-
cedence even over the love for God Himself, for only through
the Torah - that knowledge of the Other which is the condi-
tion of all ethics - can man relate to a personal God against
Whom he can rebel and for Whom he can die.

eternity (or nonabrogability). In the Bible there is no
text unanimously understood to affirm explicitly the eternity
or nonabrogability of the Torah; however, many laws of the
Torah are accompanied by phrases such as, "an everlasting in-
junction through your generations" (Lev. 3:17, et al.).

The doctrine that the Torah is eternal appears several
times in the pre-tannaitic apocryphal literature; e.g., Ben Sira
24:9 ("the memorial of me shall never cease") and Jubilees
33:16 ("an everlasting law for everlasting generations").

Whereas the rabbis understood the preexistence of the
Torah in terms of its prerevelation existence in heaven, they
understood the eternity or nonabrogability of the Torah in
terms of its postrevelation existence, not in heaven; i.e., the
whole Torah was given to Moses and no part of it remained
in heaven (Deut. 8:6, et al.). When Eliezer ben Hyrcanus and
Joshua ben Hananiah were debating a point of Torah and a
voice from heaven dramatically announced that Eliezer s po-
sition was correct, Joshua refused to recognize its testimony,
for the Torah "is not in heaven" (Deut. 30:12), and must be
interpreted by men, unaided by the supernatural (bm 59b).
It was a principle that "a prophet is henceforth not permitted
to innovate a thing" (Sifra, Be-Hukkotai 13:7; Tern. 16a; but he
was permitted to suspend a law temporarily (Sif. Deut. 175)).
The rabbis taught that the Torah would continue to exist in
the world to come (e.g., Eccles. R. 2:1), although some of them
were of the opinion that innovations would be made in the
messianic era (e.g., Gen. R. 98:9; Lev. R. 9:7).

Philo saw the eternity of the Torah as a metaphysical
principle, following from the Torah's accord with nature. He
believed that the laws and enactments of the Torah "will re-
main for all future ages as though immortal, so long as the
sun and the moon and the whole heaven and universe exist"
(11 Mos. 14; cf. Jer. 31:32-35). The belief in the eternity of the
Torah appears also in the later apocryphal works (e.g., 1 Bar.
4:1; Ps. of Sol. 10:5) and in Josephus (Apion, 2:277).

With the rise to political power of Christianity and Is-
lam, two religions which sought to convert Jews and which
argued that particular injunctions of the Torah had been ab-
rogated, the question of the eternity or "nonabrogability" of
the Torah became urgent.

Saadiah Gaon stated that the children of Israel have a
clear tradition from the prophets that the laws of the Torah

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TORAH

are not subject to abrogation. Presenting scriptural corrobo-
ration for this tradition, he appealed to phrases appended to
certain commandments, e.g., "throughout their generations,
for a perpetual covenant" (Ex. 31:16). According to one novel
argument of his, the Jewish nation is a nation only by virtue
of its laws, namely, the Torah; God has stated that the Jew-
ish nation will endure as long as the heaven and earth (Jer.
31:35—36); therefore, the Torah will last as long as heaven and
earth (cf. Philo, above). He interpreted the verses, "Remem-
ber ye the Torah of Moses. . . Behold, I will send you Elijah. . ."
(Mai. 3:22-23), as teaching that the Torah will hold valid until
the prophet Elijah returns to herald the resurrection (Beliefs
and Opinions 3:7).

Maimonides listed the belief in the eternity of the Torah
as the ninth of his 13 principles of Judaism, and connected it
with the belief that no prophet will surpass Moses, the only
man to give people laws through prophecy. He contended that
the eternity of the Torah is stated clearly in the Bible, particu-
larly in Deuteronomy 13:1 ("thou shalt not add thereto, nor di-
minish from it") and Deuteronomy 29:28 ("the things that are
revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we
may do all the words of this Torah"). He also cited the rabbinic
principle: "A prophet is henceforth not permitted to innovate
a thing" (see above). He offered the following explanation of
the Torah's eternity, based on its perfection and on the the-
ory of the mean: "The Torah of the Lord is perfect" (Ps. 19:8)
in that its statutes are just, i.e., that they are equibalanced be-
tween the burdensome and the indulgent; and "when a thing
is perfect as it is possible to be within its species, it is impos-
sible that within that species there should be found another
thing that does not fall short of the perfection either because
of excess or deficiency." Also, he mentioned the argument that
the prophesied eternity of the name of Israel ("For as the new
heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain
before Me... so shall your seed and your name"; Isa. 66:22)
entails the eternity of the Torah (cf. Saadiah above). He held
that there will be no change in the Torah after the coming of
the Messiah (commentary on Mishnah, Sanh. 10; Yad, Yesodei
ha-Torah 9; cf. Sefer ha-Mitzvot; Guide of the Perplexed 2:29,
39; Abraham ibn Daud, Emunah Ramah).

Hasdai Crescas listed the eternity of the Torah as a non-
fundamental true belief, i.e., required by Judaism, but not es-
sential to the concept of Torah. Unlike Saadiah and Maimo-
nides, he did not try to found this belief directly on a biblical
text (but cf. his Bittul Ikkarei ha-Nozerim y 9), but solely on the
rabbinic dictum: "A prophet is henceforth not permitted to in-
novate a thing" (see above). To elucidate the belief from the
point of view of speculation, he presented an argument from
the perfection of the Torah, which differed markedly from its
Maimonidean precursor. The argument proceeds as follows:
The Torah is perfect, for it perfectly guides men toward the
ultimate human happiness, love. If God were to abrogate the
Torah, He would surely replace it, for it is impossible that He
would forsake His purpose to maximize love. Since the Torah
is perfect, it could be replaced only by an equal or an infe-

rior; but if inferior, God would not be achieving His purpose
of maximizing love; and if equal, He would be acting futilely
Therefore, He will not abrogate the Torah. Against the argu-
ment that replacement of the Torah by an equal but different
law would make sense if there were an appreciable change -
for better or worse - in the people who received it, he retorted
characteristically that the Torah is the excellent guide for all,
including both the intellectuals and the backward (Or Ado-
nai y s y pt 1,5:1-2).

Joseph Albo criticized Maimonides for listing the belief
in the eternity of the Torah as an independent fundamental
belief of Judaism. In a long discussion, which in many places
constitutes an elaboration of arguments found in Crescas, he
contended that nonabrogation is not a fundamental principle
of the Torah, and that moreover, no text can be found in the
Bible to establish it. Ironically, his ultimate position turned out
to be closer to Maimonides' than to Crescas'; for he concluded
that the belief in the nonabrogation of the Torah is a branch
of the doctrine that no prophet will surpass the excellence of
Moses (Sefer ha-Ikkarim y 3:13-23).

After Albo, the question of the eternity of the Torah be-
came routine in Jewish philosophical literature (e.g., Abra-
ham Shalom, Neveh Shalom 10:3-4; Isaac Abrabanel, Rosh
Amanah, 13). However, in the Kabbalah it was never routine.
In the i3 th -century Sefer ha-Temunah a doctrine of cosmic cy-
cles (or shemittot; cf. Deut. 15) was expounded, according to
which creation is renewed every 7,000 years, at which times
the letters of the Torah reassemble, and the Torah enters the
new cycle bearing different words and meanings. Thus, while
eternal in its unrevealed state, the Torah, in its manifestation
in creation, is destined to be abrogated. This doctrine became
popular in later kabbalistic and hasidic literature, and was ex-
ploited by the heretic Shabbetai Zevi and his followers, who
claimed that a new cycle had begun, and in consequence he
was able to teach that "the abrogation of the Torah is its ful-
fillment!"

Like his contemporary Shabbetai Zevi, but for much dif-
ferent reasons (see above), Spinoza committed the heresy of
advocating the abrogation of the Torah. Subsequently, in the
19 th century, Reform ideologists held that the abrogation of
parts of the traditional Torah was not a heresy at all but was
necessary for the progress of the Jewish religion. Similarly,
many intellectuals and nationalists held that it was necessary
for the progress of the Jewish nation. Ahad Ha- Am called for
the Torah in the Heart to replace the Torah of Moses and of the
rabbis, which having been written down, had, in his opinion,
become rigid and ossified in the process of time.

Jewish philosophers of modern times have not concen-
trated on the question of the eternity or nonabrogability of
the Torah. Nevertheless, it is not entirely untenable that the
main distinction between Orthodox Judaism and non-Ortho-
dox Judaism is that the latter rejects the literal interpretation
of the ninth principle of Maimonides' Creed that there will be
no change in the Torah.

[Warren Harvey]

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TORAH, READING OF

bibliography: S. Schechter, A spec ts of Rabbinic Theology
(i960 2 ); C.G. Montefiore and H. Loewe, A Rabbinic Anthology (i960 2 ),
index; G.G. Scholem, On the Kabbalah and its Symbolism (1965), in-
dex; S.Y. Agnon, Attem Re'item (1959); A.J. Heschel, Torah min ha-
Shamayim ba-Aspaklaryah shel ha-Dorot, 2 (1965); F.E. Urbach, Hazal
Pirkei Emunot ve-Debt (1969), index.

TORAH, READING OF.

History

The practice of reading the Pentateuch (Torah) in public is
undoubtedly ancient. The sources, however, do not permit
the definite tracing of the historical development of the cus-
tom. The command to assemble the people at the end of
every seven years to read the law "in their hearing" (Deut.
31:10-13) is the earliest reference to a public Torah reading. A
second mention is made in the time of * Ezra when he read
the Torah to all the people, both men and women, from early
morning until midday, on the first day of the seventh month
(Neh. 8:1-8). These two occasions are isolated instances, and
do not help to establish when the custom of regular Torah
readings arose.

Moses' command that the Israelites should read the
Torah on the Sabbath, on festivals, and on new moons, and
Ezra's that it should be read on Mondays, on Thursdays, and
on Sabbath afternoons (tj, Meg. 4:1, 75a; bk 82a) are not his-
torical statements in themselves; they point, however, to an
early date for the introduction of regular readings. It may be
assumed that the custom dates from about the first half of
the third century b.c.e., since the Septuagint was apparently
compiled for the purpose of public reading in the synagogue.
Josephus (Apion, 2:175) an d Philo (11 Som. 127) refer to pub-
lic Torah readings as an ancient practice. This contention is
supported by evidence in the New Testament: "For Moses of
old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read
in the synagogue every Sabbath day" (Acts 15:21). Elbogen is
of the opinion that originally the Torah was read only on the
festivals and on certain Sabbath days before the festivals; the
reading was to instruct the people as to the significance of
these days. If this is correct, the original Torah reading was
didactic rather than liturgical.

The Mishnah shows that by the end of the second cen-
tury c.e. there were regular Torah readings on Mondays, on
Thursdays, and on Sabbaths; special readings for the Sabbaths
during the period from before the month of Adar to before
Passover; and special readings for the festivals, including those
of Hanukkah and Purim, and for fast days (Meg. 3, 4-6). The
length of the reading, however, seems not to have been fixed
by that time. R. *Meir states, for instance, that the practice
was to read a short portion on Sabbath mornings, the portion
that followed on Sabbath afternoon, and further portions on
Monday and Thursday, beginning on the following Sabbath
morning from the end of the Thursday portion. According to
R. Judah, the procedure was to begin the reading each Sab-
bath morning service where it had ended on the morning of
the previous Sabbath (Meg. 31b).

The passage in the Babylonian Talmud (Meg. 29b) is the
earliest reference to a fixed cycle of consecutive readings. It
states that "in the West" (Palestine), they completed the read-
ing of the Torah in three years. The old division of the Pen-
tateuch into 153, 155, or 167 sedarim ("divisions") is based on
this triennial cycle. Buechler, with great ingenuity, attempted
to reconstruct the weekly portions of the ^triennial cycle, as-
suming the cycle to have begun on the first day of Nisan. On
the basis of his reconstruction, he proceeds to explain various
traditions regarding events of the past (e.g., that Moses died
on the seventh day of Adar and that Sarah was "remembered"
on the first day of Tishri). Buechler contends that since the
portions describing these events were read once every three
years at these times, the tradition grew that the events them-
selves had taken place then.

In Babylon and other communities outside Palestine, an
annual cycle was followed according to which the Pentateuch
was divided into 54 sedarim (sing, sidrah, i.e. , par ash ah). This
became the universal Jewish practice, except for certain iso-
lated instances. In Palestine, the triennial cycle was also su-
perseded by the annual, possibly under the influence of Baby-
lonian immigrants. However, the eminent traveler ^Benjamin
of Tudela writes about the community of Cairo (c. 1170): "Two
large synagogues are there, one belonging to the land of Israel
and one belonging to the men of the land of Babylon. . . Their
usage with regard to the portions and sections of the law is not
alike; for the men of Babylon are accustomed to read a por-
tion every week, as is done in Spain, and is our custom, and to
finish the law each year; while the men of Palestine do not do
so but divide each portion into three sections and finish the
law at the end of three years. The two communities, however,
have an established custom to unite and pray together on the
day of the Rejoicing of the Law, and on the day of the Giving
of the Law" (M.N. Adler (ed.), The Itinerary of Benjamin of
Tudela (1907), 70). Similarly, in the 12 th century Maimonides
(Yad, Tefillah 13:1) writes that the universal custom was to
follow the annual cycle; he states, however, that the triennial
cycle was nevertheless followed in some places.

The Mishnah rules that three persons read the Torah on
Sabbath afternoons, on Mondays, and on Thursdays; four on
hoi ha-moed of the festivals and on the new moon; five on a
festival; six on the Day of Atonement; and seven on a Sabbath
morning (Meg. 4:1-2). The privilege of reading the first por-
tion of the day was given to a priest, the second to a levite,
and the others to Israelites (Git. 5:8). Originally, each person
read his own portion. In time, with the deterioration of Torah
learning among the lay people, a special official of the syna-
gogue read the portion while the person called to the reading
recited the benedictions. At an early period, it was customary
to translate the Hebrew text into the vernacular at the time
of the reading (e.g., in Palestine and Babylon the translation
was into Aramaic). The *targum ("translation") was done by
a special synagogue official, called the meturgeman (Meg.
4:4-10). Eventually, the practice of translating into the ver-
nacular was discontinued.

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TORAH, READING OF

Table of Scriptural Readings on Sabbaths

PENTATEUCH

PROPHETS

GENESIS

Bereshit

1:1-6:8

Isa. 42:5-43:1 1 (42:5-21 ) 1

No'ah

6:9-11:32

Isa. 54:1-55:5 (54:1-10)

Lekh Lekha

12:1-17:27

Isa. 40:27-41:16

Va-Yera

18:1-22:24

II Kings 4:1-37 (4:1-23)

Hayyei Sarah

23:1-25:18

I Kings 1:1-31

Toledot

25:19-28:9

Mai. 1:1-2:7

Va-Yeze

28:10-32:3

Hos. 12:1 3-1 4:1 0(1 1:7-1 2:1 2)

Va-Yishlah

32:4-36:43

Hos. 11:7-12:12 (Obad. 1:1-21)

Va-Yeshev

37:1-40:23

Amos 2:6-3:8

Mi-Kez

41:1-44:17

I Kings 3:15-4:1

Va-Yiggash

44:18-47:27

Ezek. 37:15-28

Va-Yehi

•

47:28-50:26

I Kings 2:1-12

EXODUS

Shemot

1:1-6:1

Isa. 27:6-28:13; 29:22, 23 (Jer. 1:1-2:3)

Va-Era

6:2-9:35

Ezek. 28:25-29:21

10:1-13:16

Jer. 46:13-28

Be-Shallah

13:17-17:16

Judg. 4:4-5:31 (5:1-31)

Yitro

18:1-20:23

Isa. 6:1-7:6; 9:5 (6:1-13)

Mishpatim

21:1-24:18

Jer. 34:8-22; 33:25, 26

2 f Terumah
I Tezavveh

25:1-27:19

I Kings 5:26-6:13

27:20-30:10

Ezek. 43:10-27

Ki Tissa

30:11-34:35

I Kings 18:1-39 (18:20-39)

f Va-Yakhel
I Pekudei

35:1-38:20

I Kings 7:40-50 (7:13-26)

38:21-40:38

I Kings 7:51-8:21 (7:40-50)

LEVITICUS

Va-Yikra

1:1-5:26

Isa. 43:21-44:23

Zav

6:1-8:36

Jer. 7:21-8:3; 9:22, 23

Shemini

9:1-11:47

II Sam. 6:1-7:17 (6:1-19)

2 r Tazri'a

I Mezora

•

12:1-13:59

II Kings 4:42-5:19

14:1-15:33

II Kings 7:3-20

f Aharei Mot
I Kedoshim

16:1-18:30

Ezek. 22:1-19 (22:1-16)

19:1-20:27

Amos 9:7-15 (Ezek. 20:2-20)

Emor

21:1-24:23

Ezek. 44:15-31

f Be-Har
I Be-Hukkotai

■

25:1-26:2

Jer. 32:6-27

26:3-27:34

Jer. 16:19-17:14

NUMBERS

Be-Midbar

1:1-4:20

Hos. 2:1-22

Naso

4:21-7:89

Judg. 13:2-25

Be-Ha'alotkha

8:1-12:16

Zech. 2:14-4:7

Shelah Lekha

13:1-15:41

Josh. 2:1-24

Korah

■

16:1-18:32

I Sam. 11:14-12:22

Hukkat

■

19:1-22:1

Judg. 11:1-33

Balak

22:2-25:9

Micah 5:6-6:8

Pinhas

25:10-30:1

I Kings 18:46-19:21

f Mattot
I Masei

30:2-32:42

Jer. 1:1-2:3

33:1-36:13

Jer. 2:4-28; 3:4 (2:4-28; 4:1, 2)

DEUTERONOMY

Devarim

1:1-3:22

Isa. 1:1-27

Va-Ethannan

3:23-7:11

Isa. 40:1-26

Ekev

7:12-11:25

Isa. 49:14-51:3

Re'eh

11:26-16:17

Isa. 54:11-55:5

Shofetim

16:18-21:9

Isa. 51:1 2-52:1 2

Ki Teze

•

21:10-25:19

Isa. 54:1-10

Ki Tavo

26:1-29:8

Isa. 60:1-22

f Nizzavim
I Va-Yelekh

29:9-30:20

Isa. 61:10-63:9

31:1-30

Isa. 55:6-56:8

Ha'azinu

32:1-52

II Sam. 22:1-51

Ve-Zot ha-Berakhah 3

33:1-34:12

Josh. 1:1-18 (1:1-9)

Parentheses indicate Sephardi ritual. 2 Brackets indicate portions that are sometimes combined. 3 This portion is not read on Sabbath but on SimhatTorah

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TORAH, READING OF

Table of Holiday Scriptural Readings for the Diaspora and for Erez Israel

PENTATEUCH

PROPHETS

Rosh Ha-Shanah

1 st Day

Gen. 21:1-34; Num. 29:1-6

I Sam. 1:1-2:10

2nd Day

Gen. 22:1-24; Num. 29-1-6

Jer. 31 :2-20

Shabbat Shuvah

Weekly portion

Hos. 14:2-10; Micah 7:18-20 or Hos.
14:2-10; Joel 2:15-17 (Hos. 14:2-10;
Micah 7:1 8-20 1 )

Day of Atonement

Morning

Lev. 16:1-34; num. 29:7-11

Isa. 57:14-58:14

Afternoon

Lev. 18:1-30

The Book of Jonah; Micah 7:18-20

Sukkot

1 st Day

Lev. 22:26-23:44; Num. 29:12-16

Zech. 14:1-21

2nd Day

Lev. 22:26-23:44; Num. 29:12-16 [Num. 29:17

-19] 2 ' 4

I Kings 8:2-21 [none]

3rd Day

Num. 29:17-22 [29:20-22] 24

4th Day

Num. 29:20-28 [29:23-25] 24

5th Day

Num. 29:23-31 [29:26-28] 24

6th Day

Num. 29:26-34 [29:29-31] 2 - 4

7th Day

Num. 29:26-34 [29:32-34] 24

Shabbat during the Intermediate Days

Ex. 33:12-34:26; Daily portion from Num. 29

Ezek. 38:18-39:16

Shemini Azeret 8th Day

Deut. 14:22-16:17; Num. 29:35-30:1 [as for Simhat Torah]

I Kings 8:54-66 [as for SimhatTorah]

SimhatTorah 9th day

Deut. 33:1-34:12; Gen. 1:1-2:3; Num. 29:35-30:1 [none]

Josh. 1:1-18 (1:1-9) [none]'

Hanukkah

•

1 st Day

Num. 7:1-17

2nd Day

Num. 7:18-29 [7:1 8-23] 5

3rd Day

Num. 7:24-35 [7:24-29] 5

4th Day

Num. 7:30-41 [7:30-35] 5

5th Day

Num. 7:36-47 [7:36-41] 5

6th Day

Num. 7:42-53 [7:42-47] 5

7th Day

Num. 7:48-59 [7:48-53] 5

8th Day

Num. 7:54-8:4

First Shabbat Hanukkah

■

Weekly Hanukkah portions as for Erez Israel

Zech. 2:14-4:4:7

Second Shabbat Hanukkah

Weekly Hanukkah portions as for Erez Israel

I Kings 7:40-50

Rosh Hodesh during Hanukkah

Weekly Hanukkah portions as for Erez Israel and Num. 28:1-15

Rosh Hodesh and Shabbat Hanukkah

• *

Weekly Rosh Hodesh, and Hanukkah portions as

for Erez Israel

•

Isa. 66:1-24

Shekalim

Weekly portion; Ex. 30:11-16

II Kings 12:1-17

Zakhor

Weekly portion; Deut. 25:17-19

I Sam. 15:2-34 (15:1-34)

Purim

Ex. 17:8-16

Parah

Weekly portion; Num. 19:1-22

Ezek. 36:16-38 (36:16-36)

Ha-Hodesh

•

Weekly portion; Ex. 12:1-20

Ezek. 45:16-46:18 (45:18-46:5)

Shabbat Ha-Gadol

Weekly portion

Mai. 3:4-24

Passover

1 st Day

Ex. 12:21-51; Num. 28:19-25

Josh. 5:2-6:1

2nd Day

Lev. 22:26-23:44; Num. 28-19:25

II Kings 23:1-9; 21-25 [none]

3rd Day

Ex. 13:1-16; Num. 28:19-25

4th Day

Ex. 22:24-23:19; Num. 28:19-25

5th Day

Ex. 33:12-34:26; Num. 28:19-25

6th Day

Num. 9:1-14; 28:19-25

Intermediate Shabbat

The order to allow for the reading as on the 5th

day above

Ezek. 36:37-37:14 (37:1-14)

7th Day

Ex. 13:17-15:26; Num. 28:19-25

II Sam. 22:1-51

8th Day

Deut. 15:19-16:17 3 ; Num. 28:19-25 [none]

Isa. 10:32-1 2:6 [none]

Shavuot

1 st Day

Ex. 19:1-20:23; Num. 28:26-31

Ezek. 1:1-28; 3:12

2nd Day

Deut. 15:1 9-1 6:1 7 3 ; Num. 28:26-31 [none]

Num. 3:1-19 (2:20-3:19)

1 Parenthesis indicate Sephardi custom. 2 Square brackets indicate Erez Israel custom.
4 Erez Israel portion read four times. 5 Erez Israel portion read three times.

On Shabbat, 14:22-16:17.

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TORAH, READING OF

Table of Holiday Scriptural Readings for the Diaspora and for Erez Israel (cont.)

PENTATEUCH

PROPHETS

Ninth of Av

Morning

Deut. 4:25-40

Jer. 8:13-9:23

Afternoon

Ex. 32:11-14; 34:1-10

Isa. 55:6-56:8 (Hos. 14:2-10; Micah
[7:18-20]

Other Fasts

Morning and afternoon

Ex. 32:11-14; 34:1-10

Isa. 55:6-56:8

Rosh Hodesh

■

Num. 28:1-15

Shabbat and Rosh Hodesh

Weekly portion; Num. 28:9-15

Isa. 66:1-24

Shabbat immediately preceding

Rosh

Weekly portion

I Sam. 20:18-12

Hodesh

•

The practice of "completing" the Torah reading with
a passage from one of the prophetic books, the ^haftarah
("completion"), is mentioned in the Mishnah (Meg. 4:1-2);
the origins of the custom, however, are obscure. The custom
is referred to as early as the New Testament period (Luke 4:17;
Acts 13:15). The particular chosen prophetic passage accorded
in theme with the days Torah reading (see Meg. 29b). There
is evidence that in some communities, selections from the
Hagiographa were also read. This explains the frequent quo-
tations from this part of the Bible found in the various mi-
drashic passages which comment on Pentateuchal themes.
The saying of R. *Akiva (Sanh. 10:1) that one who reads the
external books has no share in the world to come refers, in
all probability, to the public readings of such books as those
of the Apocrypha.

The Reading of the Torah Today

The Pentateuch is divided into 54 portions; one is to be read
each Sabbath. Two such portions are sometimes read on a
single Sabbath; otherwise the cycle could not be completed
in one year. (See Table: Scriptural Readings on Sabbaths.) On
festivals, a special portion dealing with the theme of that fes-
tival is read from one scroll and the relevant portion of Num-
bers 28:16-29:39 from the second scroll. (See Table: Holiday
Scriptural Readings.) The regular portion is not read on a
Sabbath coinciding with a festival. Each weekly portion is
divided into seven smaller ones; the actual point of division,
however, varies in the different rites. The Ashkenazi and Se-
phardi Jews do not read the same haftarot on certain Sabbaths.
There are also occasions when different portions are read in
Israel and the Diaspora (as a consequence of the observance
of second days of festivals outside Israel). The cycle of readings
begins on the Sabbath after *Sukkot and is completed on the
last day of this festival (Simhat Torah). Since the early part of
the 19 th century, various attempts have been made to reintro-
duce the triennial cycle; Buechler, in reply to a query by an
Anglo- Jewish congregation, observed: "If you ask me about
the din ("law"), I have to answer that it is against our codi-
fied law from the 12 th century onward, and even much earlier
in Babylon whence our law proceeded. If you introduce the
triennial cycle, you separate yourself from the main body of

Judaism" (London, New West End Synagogue, Report on the
Sabbath Reading of the Scriptures in a Triennial Cycle (1913),
9). Many contemporary Reform and Conservative congrega-
tions follow the practice of reading about a third of the por-
tion for the week from the portions of the annual cycle. In
some of these congregations, women are called to the reading
of the Torah; the practice is substantiated by some traditional
sources (see A.B. Blumenthal in Rabbinical Assembly America,
ProceedingSy 19 (1956), 168-81). In a few synagogues, it is cus-
tomary to read the haftarah from a handwritten scroll of the
prophets but in most communities, the haftarah is read from
a printed book. The haftarah reading, therefore, requires less
expertise and it is customary that it is read by a member of
the congregation, and not a special official. In modern com-
munities, the old practice of selling the aliyyot (from a root
meaning "to ascend" i.e., the platform from which the Torah
is read) has been discontinued.

The Laws and Customs of Reading the Torah

The Torah scroll is taken from the ark and carried in proces-
sion around the synagogue before and after the reading; the
congregation stands during the procession. According to rab-
binic authorities, Leviticus 19:32 "Thou shalt rise up before the
hoary head and honor the face of the old man, and thou shalt
fear thy God: 1 am the Lord," means that one must rise when a
Torah scholar, as well as an old man, passes by. The argument
is developed that if one must rise before those who study the
Torah, how much more before the Torah itself (Kid. 33b). It
has become customary for the congregation to gather around
the scroll and kiss it as it passes.

The reader must prepare himself well by rehearsing the
portion he is to read. He must stand erect while reading and
must enunciate the words clearly but not excessively. If he
reads a word incorrectly, so that its meaning is changed, he
must repeat it. The Torah can only be read if at least a min-
yan ("ten adult males") are present. Although it is permitted
to add to the number of persons called to the reading on the
Sabbath, no less than three verses are to be read for each per-
son. The portions are frequently subdivided for this purpose,
but care must be taken not to end a passage with an unfavor-
able topic. A person is called to the reading by his Hebrew

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TORAH ORNAMENTS

name and that of his father. If he is a rabbi, he is called by this
title (morenu ha-rav). He ascends the bimah (raised platform
from which the Torah is read) by the shortest route and de-
scends by the longest, thus demonstrating his eagerness to be
called and his reluctance to leave. If he is seated in the mid-
dle of the synagogue, so that both routes are equidistant, he
should ascend to the right and descend to the left. Both be-
fore and after the reading, he recites special benedictions (see
*Birkat ha-Torah).

The kabbalists consider the reading of the Torah a dra-
matic re-enactment of the theophany at Sinai; the reader is in
place of the Almighty, the person called to the reading repre-
sents the people to whom the Torah was given, and the segan
("the congregational leader who apportions the aliyyot and
stands at the side of the reader") has the role of Moses. Oth-
ers, for whom the Torah reading is also this dramatic re-en-
actment, consider the segan in place of the Almighty and the
reader in place of Moses. R. Simeon said: "When the scroll
of the Torah is taken out in public to be read therefrom the
heavenly gates of mercy are opened and the love from above
is awakened. A man should then say: 'Blessed be the name. . .'"
(Zohar Ex. 206a). This mystical prayer, Berikh Shemei, is found
in most prayer books and is recited in many congregations.

There are seven aliyyot on a Sabbath, of which the first
goes to a kohen, the second to a levite, and five to Israelites.
If no levite is present, the kohen is called again to the regu-
lar levite portion. If no kohen is present, either a levite or an
Israelite is called to the kohen portion and a levite is not then
called to the second portion, but an Israelite. A kohen or levite
may not be called to any of the five Israelite portions. How-
ever, since it is permitted to add to these he may be called to
the last additional portion. A father and son, or two broth-
ers, may not be called consecutively to the Torah reading, for
fear of the "evil eye" or to prevent near relatives from testify-
ing together which is forbidden by Jewish law. (The calling up
to the Torah is to attest its truth.) The following persons take
precedence in being called to the Torah:

(1) a bridegroom who is to be married during the follow-
ing week or was married that week;

(2) a boy who has reached his religious majority (bar
mitzvah);

(3) a man whose wife has borne him a child;

(4) a man commemorating the death of a parent (yahr-
zeit);

(5) a man rising from mourning (shivah).

On the Sabbath it is considered an honor to receive the
highly valued third and sixth aliyyot. It is customary to allot
them to men of special learning or piety. The same applies to
the last aliyahy particularly when the reading is from one of
the concluding portions of the five books. Other valued por-
tions are the Song of Moses (Ex. 15:1-21) and the Ten Com-
mandments (Ex. 20:1-14 and Deut. 5:6-18). The congregation
stands while these portions are being read. The portions Ex-
odus 32:1-33:6; Leviticus 26:14-43; Numbers 11; and Deuter-
onomy 28:15-68 are read softly because they deal with Israel's

backsliding. The last few verses of the maftir ("final portion")
of the sidrah are repeated for the person called to read the haf-
tarah. This can be given to a kohen or a levite and, unlike the
others, also to a minor.

The Torah reading is cantillated in a specific way which is
distinct from that of the haftarah. The Ashkenazi and the Se-
phardi rites have different cantillations for the reading. There
are also special cantillations for the Book of Esther, the Book
of Lamentations, and for the Books of Ruth, Ecclesiastes, and
Song of Songs. It is considered wrong to substitute one cantil-
lation for another. The verse: "You shall not move your neigh-
bor's landmarks, set up by previous generations" (Deut. 19:14)
is cited when such a change is attempted. The reader does not
have to repeat words read with an incorrect cantillation (for
the musical aspects see *Masoretic Accents, Musical Rendi-
tion). In Sephardi congregations, the open scroll is lifted (hag-
bahah) and shown to the congregation before the reading; in
Ashkenazi congregations this ceremony is performed after the
reading. When the scroll is raised, the congregation chants:
"This is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel"
(Deut. 4:44). After the reading, the scroll is rolled together
again (gelilah) and its ornaments are replaced.

The Torah may only be read from a scroll that is kasher
("fit for use"), and not from one rendered pasul ("unfit") be-
cause it had been incorrectly written or its words or letters have
been obliterated. A scroll is unfit for use, even if only one letter
has been omitted. The scroll must be unpointed; it should have
no other signs than the consonants. If the vowel signs or the
notes for cantillation have been written in the scroll, it is unfit
for use. If during the reading it is discovered that the scroll is
unfit, it should be returned to the ark and another scroll taken
out. The reading from the second scroll is continued from the
place where the mistake was discovered. Should this occur
on a Sabbath, the required number of seven persons must be
called up to the reading of the second scroll, even if some have
already been called up to the reading of the first.

Most Reform temples in the United States have shortened
or abandoned the traditional Torah readings and a number of
Conservative temples have substituted the old triennial cycle
of readings. In non- Orthodox congregations where women
are counted as part of the minyan y they may also receive an
aliyah and girls may celebrate their bat mitzvah like boys with
a reading from their portion.

bibliography: Sh. Ar., oh 135-49; D.B.D. Reifmann, Shul-

han ha-Keriah (1882); Zunz-Albeck, Derashot, index, s.v. Keriat

ha-Torah; Buechler, in: jqr, 5 (1892/93), 420-68; 6 (1893/94), 1-73;

Elbogen, Gottesdienst, index, s.v. Tora Vorlesung; J. Mann, The Bible

as Read and Preached in the Old Synagogue, 1 (1940); idem and I.

Sonne, ibid., 2 (1966).

[Louis Jacobs]

TORAH ORNAMENTS. The sacred and ceremonial objects
in the synagogue revolve around the Torah scroll. These ob-
jects differ from one place to another and not every object ex-
ists in every community.

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TORAH ORNAMENTS

Storage of the Torah Scroll

The length of cloth known in Hebrew as the mitpahat (plural
mitpahot) is the earliest known means for storage of the Torah
scroll. The mitpahhat, also known in the sources as mappah,
is mentioned in the Mishnah and in the Tosefta and later in
the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds (Mishnah, Kel. 28:4,
Meg. 4:1, Kil. 9:3; Tosef. bm 9:5; tj, Ber. 6:4; tb, Meg. 26b, etc.).
It is known from these sources that in ancient times woolen
or linen mitpahot were used, sometimes with colorful stripes
woven in; some were provided with bells. It is also known
from Greek and Latin literature that in the ancient Middle
East important scrolls were regularly wrapped in cloth. In
time, the Jewish communities of the East Mediterranean Ba-
sin, as well as the Eastern communities, began to keep their
Torah scrolls in special cases. Such cases were common in
the classical world; they are referred to as theca in Greek
or capsa in Latin. Archaeological finds from all parts of the
Roman Empire attest to the shape of the case: a cylindrical or
prism-shaped container used to carry various objects, includ-
ing scrolls. Used in the Jewish world to carry Torah scrolls,
such cases eventually became the main permanent receptacle
for Torah scrolls in the communities of the East and the East
Mediterranean Basin.

Torah Case and Mitpahat

The case is a small wooden cabinet, either cylindrical or
prism-shaped with eight, ten, or twelve faces in two parts
that open lengthwise. There are three main types of case: the
flat-topped case used in Yemen, Cochin, Eastern Iran, and
Afghanistan; the case with a circular or onion-shaped crown
used in the Babylonian communities, i.e., Iraq and Western
Iran; and the case with a coronet used in Libya, Tunisia, and
the Greek Romaniot communities. The ornamentation of
the case differs from one community to another. Cases may
be adorned with colorful drawings or covered with leather,
fabric, or beaten silver plates. In some communities, such as
Yemen, Tunisia, and Libya, the case is usually wrapped in a
rich fabric. The Torah cases generally have inscriptions around
the edges, on the front, or inside. Two types of inscription are
characteristic: biblical verses extolling the Torah, mainly from
the books of Proverbs and Psalms, and personal information
about the donor.

Our knowledge of Torah cases and mitpahot in pre-mod-
ern times is meager; the process whereby the case evolved
from a mere receptacle for carrying the Torah into a sacred
artifact can at most be conjectured. It may be assumed that
in the first stage, when the case was used only for storage, the
scroll was wrapped in a mitpahat when placed in the case.
However, it was difficult to handle the Torah scroll wrapped
in the mitpahat in its case, and most communities therefore
removed it from the case. Only the Jews of Yemen continued to
wrap the Torah in two or three mitpahot, and until they came
to Israel they used colorful, geometrically patterned, cotton-
print mitpahot of Indian manufacture. There, the mitpahat
is used to cover the text adjacent to the text being read, thus

preventing its unnecessary exposure. In other communities,
the mitpahat is used only to cover the scroll during pauses
in the reading, when it is placed on the case and not on the
Torah scroll itself.

Wrapper, Binder, and Mantle

Two textile objects developed from the mitpahat in European
communities. One, found only in Italy and in communities of
the Sephardi Diaspora, is a wrapper (Hebrew yen ah), of height
equal to that of the parchment sheets from which the Torah
scroll is made and rolled up together with the scroll, a custom
which is gradually disappearing. Another textile object wound
around the Torah scroll in Ashkenazi communities, in Italy,
and in the Sephardi Diaspora is the binder. The binder is a long
narrow strip of cloth with which the Torah is bound, either on
top of the wrapper or directly on the parchment. Its purpose is
to keep the scroll securely bound when not in use.

In Italy and in the Sephardi communities, the binder is
known as a fascia; it is made of a costly material or of linen
embroidered in silk thread. From the 16 th century it became
customary in Northern Italy for girls and young women to
embroider binders with biblical verses or original personal
dedicatory inscriptions. In Germany it became customary in
the second half of the 16 th century to prepare a binder for the
Torah scroll on the occasion of the birth of a son. This binder,
called a mappah or w impel, was fashioned from a piece of
square linen cloth which was placed near the infant during
the circumcision ceremony. The infants name, his fathers,
name and his date of birth were embroidered or written on
the cloth, as well as the blessing recited during the ceremony:
"May he enter into the Torah, the nuptial canopy, and into
good deeds." By the 17 th century, binders often had pictures
illustrating the three elements of "Torah, the nuptial canopy
and good deeds."

The Torah mantle is as it were the clothing of the Torah
scroll. In Sephardi communities, Italy, and Germany, and
in halakhic literature, it was indeed occasionally known as
beged, "garment," or mappah, but later the term me c il became
standard in most communities. The earliest attestation to the
shape of the mantle appears in the i4 th -century Sarajevo Hag-
gadah, created in Spain. The mantles shown there are made of
a costly material, probably not embroidered. This tradition is
still common today in Sephardi communities, with the excep-
tion of Morocco and Algeria, where Torah mantles are made
of velvet with elaborately embroidered patterns and dedica-
tory inscriptions. Common motifs on these mantles are the
Tree of Life (in Morocco) and a gate (in Algeria). The shapes
of the mantle differ from community to community - some
are wide and open in the front (Italy and the Spanish Dias-
pora), others have a small cape atop the robe, still others are
of simple rectangular length with material gathered at the up-
per borders (Algeria).

The earliest German mantles are depicted in i5 th -century
manuscripts. This Torah mantle is generally narrower and
smaller than the Sephardi mantle, while the robe-like part is

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TORAH ORNAMENTS

made of two rectangular lengths of material sewn together.
Two openings at the upper end of the mantle enable the staves
to protrude. The designs on To rah mantles in Germany and
Central Europe are influenced by the ornamentation of the
Torah Ark curtain, with such motifs as a pair of columns, li-
ons, and the Torah crown most frequent.

Torah Crown

The earliest Torah ornaments are the Torah crown and the fini-
als mounted on the Torah case or on the staves of the Torah
scroll. We first hear of a Torah crown in the 11 th century, in a
responsum of *Hai Gaon concerning the use of a crown for a
Torah scroll on *Simhat Torah. The use of the Torah crown is
linked in this responsum to the custom of crowning the so-
called "^Bridegrooms of the Law," i.e., the persons called up
on Simhat Torah to complete the annual cycle of the Torah
reading and to initiate the new cycle. At the time, the Torah
crown was an ad hoc object made from various decorative
items, such as plants and jewelry. About a hundred years later,
fixed crowns, made of silver and used regularly to decorate
Torah scrolls in the synagogue, are mentioned in a document
from the Cairo *Genizah. Their earliest depiction is in the 14 th -
century Spanish Sarajevo Haggadah.

Torah crowns are used in almost all communities (the
exceptions are Morocco and Yemen), their design being in-
fluenced in each locality by local tradition. The onion-shaped
or conical crown of the Iraqi-Persian Torah case follows the
tradition of the crowns of the Sassanid kings, the last Persian
dynasty prior to the Muslim conquest. In Cochin, India, and
in Aden, the independent port of Yemen, a tapering dome-like
crown developed through which protrude finials mounted on
the staves on which the Torah scroll is wound; the crown is
not fixed to the case. By the 20 th century, the Torah crown in
Cochin showed distinct European features. In Eastern Iran,
where the Torah had a small crown, the outer sides of the
crown lost their spherical shape and became flat dedicatory
plaques. Today this crown looks like a pair of flat finials, and
only their designation as "crowns" hints at their origin in the
Torah crown. The circlet or coronet on the Mediterranean
case, which became an integral part of the case, was based on
a local medieval crown tradition typified by floral patterns.
The European crown is shaped like a floral coronet with arms
closing over it. In Eastern Europe a two- or three-tiered crown
developed, inspired by the crown motif on the Torah Ark in
this region. In Italy, on the other hand, the Torah crown was
a coronet, known in Hebrew as the atarah.

Torah Finials

The finials evolved from knobs at the upper end of the staves
(ezei hayyim) on which the Torah scroll is wound. Since the
shape of the spherical finial recalled that of a fruit, it was
called a tappu'ah, "apple," among the Jews of Spain and in
the Sephardi Diaspora, and a rimmon, "pomegranate," in all
other communities.

The earliest known reference to Torah finials occurs
in a document from 1159, found in the Cairo Genizah, from

which we learn that by the 12 th century finials were already
being made of silver and had bells. Around the same time,
*Maimonides mentions finials in the Mishneh Torah (Hilkhot
Sefer Torah 10:4). Despite the variations on the spherical shape
which developed over the centuries and the addition of small
bells around the main body of the finial, the spherical, fruit-
like form was the basic model for the design of finials in Ori-
ental and European communities.

A most significant variation appeared in i5 th -century
Spain, Italy, and Germany, where the shape of finials was in-
fluenced by that of various objects of church ritual, whose
design often incorporated architectural motifs, The resulting
tower-like structure, which seems to have appeared around
the same time in different parts of Europe, became the main
type of finial in i8 th -century Germany and Italy, as well as Mo-
rocco, brought there by Jews expelled from Spain.

Breastplates and Metal Shields Hung in Front of the
Torah Scroll

Breastplates - ornamental metal plates or shields hung in
front of the Torah scroll - are found in all Ashkenazi com-
munities, as well as Italy and Turkey, but designed differently
in each community. In most cases the breastplate is made of
silver or silver-plated metal. In Italy the breastplate is shaped
like a half-coronet and known as the keter y "crown." In Tur-
key, the breastplate is called a tass, and assumes a variety of
shapes - circular, triangular, oval, or even the Star of David.
In Western, Central, and Eastern Europe the breastplate is
called either tass or ziz; its function there is not merely orna-
mental: it designates which Torah scroll is to be used for the
Torah reading on any particular occasion, with interchange-
able plaques. The most notable early breastplates, from 17 th -
century Germany and Holland, were either square or rect-
angular, but over time they became rounded and decorative,
and bells or small dedicatory plaques were suspended from
its lower edge. During this period, the design of breastplates
was influenced by that of the Torah Ark and the *parokhet
(curtain) concealing it, featuring various architectural motifs,
the *menorah (the seven-branched candelabrum), Moses and
Aaron, lions, or Torah crowns.

Objects Used in the Torah Reading

torah pointer. The pointer used by the Torah reader to
keep the place is known in European communities as the
*yad y "hand," or the ezba y "finger," and in Sephardi and East-
ern communities as the moreh y "pointer," or kulmus, "quill,"
the former because of its function and the latter because of
its shape. Halakhic sources also use the terms moreh or kul-
mus. The pointer was originally a narrow rod, tapered at the
pointing end, usually with a hole at the other end through
which a ring or chain could be passed to hang the pointer on
the Torah scroll.

The original form of the pointer was preserved in East-
ern communities, the differences from one community to an-
other being mainly in length and ornamentation. In certain
communities a hand with a pointing finger was added, and

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TORBERG, FRIEDRICH

accordingly the pointer came to be known as a yad, "hand,"
or ezba, "finger." Pointers are made for the most part of sil-
ver or silver-plated brass, but in a few European communi-
ties they used to be made of wood. In such cases the pointers
were carved in the local folk-art style.

bibliography: P.J. Abbink van der Zwan, "Ornamentation
on Eighteenth- Century Torah Binders," in: The Israel Museum News
(1978), 64-73; G. Boll, "The Jewish Community of Mackenheim," in:
A. Weber, E. Friedlander & F. Armbruster (eds.), Mappo ... blessed
be who comes, The Band of Jewish Tradition (1997), 22-27; Y. Cohen,
"Torah Breastplates from Augsburg in the Israel Museum," in: Israel
Museum News, 14 (1978), 75-85; D. Davidovitch, "Die Tora Wimpel
im Braunschweigischen Landesmuseum," in: R. Hagen (ed.), Tora
Wimpel, Zeugniss jiidischer Volkskunst aus dem Braunschweigisches
Landesmuseum (1978), 12-27; J- Doleielova, "Torah Binders in the
Czech Republic," in: A. Weber, E. Friedlander & F. Armbruster (eds.),
Mappot... blessed be who comes, The Band of Jewish Tradition (1997),
99-103; idem, "Torah Binders from Four Centuries at the State Jew-
ish Museum in Prague," in: Judaica Bohemiae, 9:2 (1973), 55-71; idem,
"Binders and Festive Covers from the Collections of the State Jewish
Museum in Prague," in: Judaica Bohemiae, 10:2 (1974), 91-104; idem,
"Die Sammlung der Thorawickel," in: Judaica Bohemiae, 16:1 (1980),
60-63; R- Eis, Torah Binders ofthejudah L. Magnes Museum (1979); N.
Feuchtwanger-Sarig, "Torah Binders from Denmark," in: M. Gelfer-
Jorgensen (ed.), Danish Jewish Art - Jews in Danish Art (Danish,i999),
382-435; R. Grafman, Crowning Glory, Silver Torah Ornaments (1996);
idem, 50 Rimmonim, A Selection of Torah Finials from a European
Family Collection (1998); C. Grossman, "Italian Torah Binders," in:
Jewish Art, 7 (1980), 35-43; F. Guggenheim -Grunberg, Die Torawick-
elbander von Lengnau Zeugnisse jiidischer Volkskunst (1967); J. Gut-
mann, "Die Mappe Schuletragen," in: A. Weber, E. Friedlander &
F. Armbruster (eds.), Mappot ...blessed be who comes, The Band of
Jewish Tradition (1997), 65-69; R. Jacoby, ut Etzba and 'Kulmosl The
Torah Pointer in the Persian World" (Ph.D. diss., Hebrew University
of Jerusalem, 2005); B. Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, "The Cut that Binds:
The Western Ashkenazic Torah Binder as Nexus between Circumci-
sion and Torah," in: V. Turner (ed.), Celebration: Studies in Festivity
and Ritual (1982), 136-46; F. Raphael, "On Saturday My Grandson
Will Bring the Mappah to the Synagogue," in: A. Weber, E. Fried-
lander & F. Armbruster (eds.), Mappot... blessed be who comes, The
Band of Jewish Tradition (1997), 73-79; C. Roth, "Ritual Art," in: En-
cyclopedia Judaica (1973), 3:524-535; S. Sabar "'May He Grow Up to
the Huppah': Representations of the Wedding on Ashkenazi Torah
Binders," in: G. Cohen Grossman (ed.), Romance & Ritual: Celebrat-
ing The Jewish Wedding (2001), 31-45; J. Stown, "Silver English Rim-
monim and Their Makers," in: Quest (Sept. 1965), 23-30; D. Tahon,
"Rapduni be-Tapuhim" in: Rimmonim, 4 (1994), 20-27 (Heb.); A.
Weber, "The Culture of Rural Jewry in Swabia and Franconia," in: A.
Weber, E. Friedlander & F. Armbruster (eds.), Mappot... blessed be
who comes, The Band of Jewish Tradition (1997), 82-91; idem, "From
Leo to Virgo - The Binders of the Synagogue at Ichenhausen," in: A.
Weber, E. Friedlander & F. Armbruster (eds.), Mappot... blessed be
who comes, The Band of Jewish Tradition (1997), 92-99; B.Yaniv, "An
Attempt to Reconstruct the Design of Tower-Shaped Rimonim in
Morocco according to Models from Spain," in: Peamim, 50 (Winter
1992), 69-98 (Heb.); idem, "The Mystery of the Flat Torah Finials
from East Persia," in: A. Netzer (ed.), Padyavand, Judeo-Iranian and
Jewish Studies Series, 1 (1996), 63-74; idem, "The Samaritan Torah
Case," in: V. Morabito, Alen D. Crown & L. Davey (eds.), Samaritan
Researches, 5 (2000), 4.04-4.13; idem, "Regional Variations of Torah

Cases from the Islamic World," in: For Every Thing a Season - Jewish
Ritual Art (2002), 39-76; idem, The Torah Case; Its History and Design
(1997) (Heb.); M. Gelfer-Jorgensen (ed.), Danish Jewish Art - Jews in
Danish Art (tr. from the Danish; 1999).

[Bracha Yaniv (2 nd ed.)]

TORAH UMESORAH (National Society for Hebrew Day
Schools). The largest national body serving 700 Orthodox day
schools in North America, the Torah Umesorah was founded
in 1944 by Rabbi Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz. From 1946 its na-
tional director was Joseph Kaminetsky, who was succeeded by
Rabbi Joshua Fishman in 1982. Policy is officially dictated by
a rabbinical board. Among its other activities, Torah Umeso-
rah sponsors a teacher training institute called AishDos and
represents its membership schools to the U.S. Department
of Education. In the past, Torah Umesorah published the
children's magazine Olomeinu as well as The Jewish Parent;
and Hamenahel, sl periodical for school principals. In 2004
they began publishing an educational magazine called Raya-
nos. Torah Umesorah organizes two yearly conferences, the
National Conference of Yeshiva Principals and the National
Leadership Convention, the latter of which is geared toward
anyone involved in Torah education.

bibliography: D. Zvi Kramer, The Day Schools and Torah

Umesorah: The Seeding of Traditional Judaism in America (1984);

C.S. Liebman, in: ajyp, 66 (1965); A.I. Schiff, The Jewish Day School

in America (1966).

[Asher Oser (2 nd ed.)]

TORAH VA-AVODAH (Heb. "Torah and Labor"), descrip-
tion of the ideology of the Zionist religious pioneering move-
ment, as well as the name of the world confederation of pio-
neer and youth groups of the *Mizrachi movement established
in Vienna in 1925 at a conference of delegates from various
countries (representing Mizrachi youth, religious *He-Halutz
groups, and *Ha-Poel ha- Mizrachi). The ideology was based
on the unity of the Torah, the people, and the land of Israel,
as well as on the postulate that only a man who lives by his
own labor can be certain that he does not exploit and abuse
his neighbor. This concept, coupled with the demand for social
justice, induced the movement into establishing cooperative
collective pioneering settlements in Erez Israel.

See also *Mizrachi, *Ha-Poel ha-Mizrachi, *Bnei Akiva,
*Ha-Kibbutz ha-Dati.

bibliography: J. Walk, in: ylbi, 6 (1961), 236-56.

TORBERG (Kantorberg), FRIEDRICH (1908-1979), Aus-
trian novelist, journalist, and editor. Torberg, who was born in
Vienna, won acclaim with his first novel, Der Schueler Gerber
hat absolviert (1930). He worked for the Prager Tagblatt and
the Selbstwehr during the 1930s. In 1938 he fled from Prague
to Switzerland and fought in a Czech brigade with the French
army until the collapse of France. With the help of the "Emer-
gency Rescue Committee," he escaped to the U.S. in 1940 as a
persecuted writer. There he lived first as a scriptwriter in Los
Angeles and later in New York. Torberg returned to Vienna

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TORCHIN

in 1951, where he was for many years the editor of Forum , a
literary and cultural monthly

His novella Mein ist die Rache (1943) and his novel Hier
bin ich, mein Voter (1948) dealt with the fate of Jews under
Nazi rule. His other novels include Abschied (1937) and Die
zweite Begegnung (1950). He published two collections of verse,
Der ewige Refrain (1929) and Lebenslied (1958). Among his
further works are Dasfuenfte Rad am Thespiskarren (1967),
Golems Wiederkehr (1968), Suesskind von Tr imb erg (19 7 2), and
two collection of anecdotes on Jewish life in the Habsburg
monarchy, Die Tante Jolesch (1977) and Die Erben der Tante
Jolesch (1978). Torbergs collected works, including his exten-
sive correspondence, appeared in 19 volumes (1962-91). In ad-
dition to his extensive literary output, Torberg also worked as
a German translator of Ephraim *Kishoris novels.

bibliography: F. Lennartz, Deutsche Dichter und Schrift-
steller unserer Zeit (19598), 756-8; H. Zohn, Wiener Juden in der
deutschen Literatur (1964), 101-5. add. bibliography: J. Strelka
(ed.), Festschrift (1970); A. Tobias, in: blb, 19 (1980), 56/57:169-73;
R. Hilbrand, in: D. Axmann (ed.), Und Lacheln ist das Erbteil meines
Stammes (1988), 89-106; D. Axmann, in: ibid., 149-58; H. Zogbaum,
in: Australian Journal of Jewish Studies, 7 (1993), 1, 71-92; J. Thunecke,
in: Modern Austrian Literature, 27 (1994), 3-4, 19-36; E. Adunka, in:
ibid., 213-37; E Tichy, Friedrich Torberg (1995); C. Sajak, in: J. Thu-
necke (ed.), Deutschsprachige Exillyrik von 1933 bis zur Nachkriegszeit
(1998), 157-69; H. Abret, in: M. Braun et al. (ed.), "Hinaufund Zurueck
in die herzhelle Zukunft" (2000), 521-41; S. Hart, "History through
Humor ... Friedrich Torbergs 'Tante Jolesch' Books, with particular
Reference to the Problems of Assimilation and Anti-Semitism" (Ph.D.
diss., King's College, London; 2001).

[Sol Liptzin / Mirjam Triendl (2 nd ed.)]

TORCHIN (Pol. Torczyn), town in S. Volyn district, Ukraine;
passed to Russia in 1795. In 1648-49 the Jews suffered at the
hands of the Cossacks under *Chmielnicki. Because of their
economic plight, the Council of the Four Lands (see * Coun-
cils of the Lands) granted the community a reduction in tax
in 1726. The Jewish population numbered about 640 in 1765.
During the 19 th century various branches of crafts were de-
veloped whose products were sold on the Russian markets. In
1890 there were 21 tanneries and 66 shops in the town, most
of them owned by Jews. The Jewish population numbered
1,748 in 1847, 2,629 (58% of total population) in 1897, and 1,480
(46%) in 1921. Between the two world wars, in independent
Poland, all the Jewish parties were active in the town, as well
as a branch of He-Halutz, a sport association, and a library.

Holocaust Period

Before the outbreak of World War 11 there were about 1,600
Jews in Torczyn. In September 1939 the Red Army entered the
town and a Soviet administration was established there un-
til the outbreak of the German-Soviet war in June 1941. The
Germans occupied the town on June 24, 1941. In January 1942
the Jews from Torczyn and its vicinity were concentrated in a
closed ghetto in the town. The ghetto was liquidated at the end
of August 1942 and most of the Jews were shot in the Jewish
cemetery. During this Aktion some Jews succeeded in hiding

and another group in escaping and joining a partisan unit that
operated in the vicinity. After the war, the Jewish community
of Torczyn was not reconstituted.

bibliography: Halpern, Pinkas, index; B. Wasiutynski,
Ludnosc zydowska w Polsce w wiekach xix i xx (1930), 84.

[Shimon Leib Kirshenboim]

TORCZYNER, JACQUES (1914- ), U.S. Zionist leader. Tor-
czyner was born in Antwerp, Belgium, where his father had
been president of the Belgian Zionist Federation. He identi-
fied himself with Zionist activity in Belgium and was editor
of the official publications of the Zionist Federation from 1937
until the outbreak of World War 11. In 1940 he immigrated to
the United States and became one of the leaders of the Zionist
Organization of America and was closely associated with Abba
Hillel ^Silver. Torczyner served as president of the Zionist Or-
ganization of America for five consecutive terms and was ap-
pointed chairman of the Administrative Board of the zoa. He
is also president of the World Union of General Zionists. He
has written extensively on problems connected with Zionist
ideology and the future of American Jewry.

TORGOV, MORLEY (1927- ), Canadian author. Morley Tor-
gov was born and raised in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, where
his family was part of the city's small Jewish community. A
full-time lawyer with a practice in Toronto, he wrote in his
leisure time.

Torgov published a memoir and five novels, each of
which explores Jewish themes with humor and irony that
are gentler than in either Mordecai *Richler or Philip * Roth,
with whom he is often compared. A Good Place to Come From
(1974) won the Leacock Medal for Humour and was adapted
as a mini- series for television and for the stage in Canada and
the United States. A series of vignettes, it describes Torgov's
experience of growing up Jewish in the predominantly gen-
tile world of Sault Ste. Marie. The Abramsky Variations (1977),
written in three parts and set in Toronto and France, concerns
three generations of the Abramsky (later Brahms) family: fa-
ther Louis, son Hershel, and grandson Bart (ne Kevin). Each
character struggles to reconcile Jewish tradition with secular
ambition, and all are more strongly attracted to fantasizing
about people they want to emulate than to facing reality. Tor-
gov's second novel, The Outside Chance of Maximilian Glick
(1982), which also won the Leacock Medal, was first written
as a children's story. It takes a comic look at 12 -year-old Max-
imilian, so named because his parents thought it would look
impressive on the door of a law office. It is the story of a boy
raised in a tiny Jewish community in Steelton, northern On-
tario. Maximilian seeks to escape the suffocating love of his
parents and grandparents, who envision him making a career
as a surgeon, judge, or scientist. With the help of Rabbi Kal-
man Teitelman, who replaces Steelton's former rabbi and with
whom Maximilian forms a relationship, he eventually releases
himself from the stifling expectations of others. St. FarbsDay
(1990) concerns Isadore Farb, an honest, respectable lawyer

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TORONTO

on Toronto's Bay Street. As Farb struggles with an ethical di-
lemma - he finds himself involved in a conflict of interest
with several clients - he confronts larger moral issues linked
to his Jewish identity. The War to End All Wars (1998) brings
together two former soldiers who had fought opposite one an-
other in World War 1. In the mid-i920s, Ellio Pines and Karl
Sternberg are living in the small town of Oreville, Michigan,
where they compete as businessmen and as suitors. Stickler
and Me (2002) is a novel for young adults.

[Ruth Panofsky (2 nd ed.)]

TORME, MEL (Melvin Howard; 1925-1999) U.S. singer,
drummer, pianist, composer, arranger, actor, author. Although
he was known as "the Velvet Fog," a nickname he loathed, and
most people thought of him in terms of his creamy vocal tones,
Mel Torme was a protean figure whose range of talents encom-
passed not only jazz and pop music but writing and acting as
well. The son of Russian Jewish immigrants (the family name,
Torma, was changed by an immigration official at Ellis Island),
Torme was a child performer of note, singing with the Coon-
Sanders Nighthawks Orchestra at four and appearing on nu-
merous national radio programs including Jack Armstrong,
the All-American Boy when he was nine. Trained as a pianist
and drummer, he also began his songwriting career very early,
with the Harry James band performing his "Lament of Love"
when Torme was 15. By 1943, the teenager was touring with the
Chico Marx band as a singer, drummer, and arranger. That was
the year in which he also made his film debut in Higher and
Higher alongside another newcomer, Frank Sinatra.

Sinatras success with the Pied Pipers vocal group in-
spired Torme to form his own backup aggregation, the Mel-
Tones, and it was his recordings with them in the mid-i940s
that inspired New York disk jockey Fred Robbins to gift Torme
with his famous sobriquet. (Torme eventually came to ac-
cept the nickname, sporting license plates that read le fog
and el phog.) His career continued in the ascendant with
a commercial peak in the 1947 mgm musical Good News,
which triggered a very brief enthusiasm for Torme among the
bobbysoxers. But he was outgrowing this music and by the
early 1950s hooked up with nascent Bethlehem Records where
he became a jazz artist in earnest. The timing was probably
unfortunate, as Torme's musical maturing coincided with
the rise of rock 'n' roll and the ebbing of jazz as a commer-
cial vehicle.

Torme, however, was a man of many interests and tal-
ents, and survived by broadening his horizons to include writ-
ing for television, several books of non-fiction including an
autobiography (It Wasn't All Velvet, 1988) and a biography of
his close friend and fellow Jewish child prodigy, Buddy Rich
(Traps: The Drum Wonder, 1991). His most famous composi-
tion, "The Christmas Song," was not only a huge hit for Nat
Cole but is among the most frequently recorded holiday songs
in the modern repertoire. Torme continued performing and
recording until a serious stroke felled him in 1996; the linger-
ing effects of that stroke would kill him three years later.

bibliography: "Mel Torme," Biography Resource Cen-
ter, Thompson- Gale Publishing, at: www.gale.com/BiographyRC;
"Mel Torme," MusicWeb Encyclopaedia of Popular Music, at: www.
musicweb.uk.net; J. Rosen, "Mel Torme," in Salon Magazine (June 12,

1999), at: www.salon.com.

[George Robinson (2 nd ed.)]

TORONTO, city in Canada, with a population of approxi-
mately 2.5 million people; located on the north shore of Lake
Ontario. The city is the capital of the province of Ontario and
at the heart of a larger urban expanse officially known as the
Greater Toronto Area (gta), home to an additional 2.7 mil-
lion people. Toronto is also one of the largest Jewish Diaspora
centers. In 2001 there were approximately 114,000 Jews in the
city of Toronto and another 65,000 in the surrounding gta
municipalities. That population continues to grow.

History

Many of Toronto's Jews remain clustered along what is likely
the longest Jewish neighborhood in the Diaspora. It begins
downtown and extends up either side of one street, Bathurst
Street, for about 15 miles (24 km.). While there are no fixed
boundaries along this lengthy north/south artery, it is possible
to divide the Toronto Jewish community into a landscape of
three connected neighborhoods.

The downtown and most southerly neighborhood is
the oldest. Toronto, originally named York, was founded as a
British garrison town on Lake Ontario in the late 18 th century.
As surrounding agricultural settlement gradually expanded,
so did the town, which served as a local market and com-
mercial center. By the late 1840s and early 1850s Toronto was
home to a small number of Jews, mostly merchants active in
the jewelry, clothing, and dry goods business. Many of these
Jews were originally from England or Germany and retained
close economic and kinship ties to Jewish merchant families
in Montreal, New York, or London. As Toronto continued
to grow, Jewish-owned enterprises successfully expanded to
include financial services, land speculation, and manufac-
turing.

While few in number and generally well integrated into
the larger community, the tiny Toronto Jewish community
came together to found a burial society and organize High
Holiday services. Confident that their numbers would gradu-
ally grow, in 1856 a group of 18 men founded Toronto's Holy
Blossom Congregation. For the next decade and a half, there
was slow but steady growth in the community. In the early
1880s the Toronto Jewish community stood just short of 600
members. They were not ready for the explosion in Jewish
population numbers that came with the great westward migra-
tion of Jews out of Russian Poland, Lithuania, and the Ukraine
that began in the early 1880s. As this migration reached To-
ronto the city's Jewish population expanded by more than 200
percent to almost 1,400 Jews in 1891. During the next 20 years
it grew by more than one thousand percent to exceed 18,000
in 1911. In the next ten years the size of the Jewish community
of Toronto doubled yet again.

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TORONTO

The small and generally well-integrated older Jewish
community offered the new immigrants what assistance it
could, but it was soon overwhelmed by so many new arrivals
who were so different from themselves. In turn, the new arriv-
als, Yiddish- speaking and largely working-class, often felt at
a distance from the prosperous and largely English-speaking
Jews they found in Toronto. Many of the recent immigrants
first clustered in poorer inner-city neighborhoods where they
found employment in the growing garment industry or strug-
gled to make a living as peddlers and petty merchants. They
built an institutional infrastructure that echoed the East Euro-
pean world from which they had recently arrived. Synagogues
and Landsmannschaften were established, often tied to coun-
try or region of origin. Secular organizations of many differ-
ent political stripes, left and right, Zionist and non-Zionist,
also took root.

Even as Jewish immigrants to Toronto and their children
struggled to secure an economic foothold for themselves in
this new urban world while tenaciously holding onto their
identities as Jews, they were subject to assimilationist pressures
from Toronto's urban gatekeepers - school teachers, Protes-
tant missionaries, social workers, and politicians - all preach-
ing a vision of Toronto as an orderly outpost of British values
in North America and believing it their duty to remake these
"foreigners" in their own image. Some, tinged with antisemi-
tism and fearing that Jews could not or would not assimilate,
began to pressure the government for severe restrictions on
immigration. As the anti- immigrant movement grew through
the mid-i920s, the government responded with tough immi-
gration barriers. Even though these regulations cut off the flow
of East European immigration into Canada, antisemitism in
housing, in the workplace, and in areas of social contact con-
tinued. Tensions exploded in the 1933 Christie Pits riot, where
Jewish and Italian youths fought anti -immigrant gangs who
had been harassing Jews.

World War 11 was a watershed in Toronto Jewish life. The
outbreak of war in 1939 brought not only distress to the heav-
ily Polish-Jewish population of Toronto fearful for the fate
of family still in Poland, it also brought a return of economic
growth, full employment, and a sense of shared contribu-
tion to the national cause. With many Canadian Jews serving
with the military and contributing on the home front, Jews
were increasingly unwilling to tolerate further anti-Jewish
discrimination. Even as the organized Toronto Jewish com-
munity, led by the Canadian Jewish Congress, organized in
support of the war effort it also began a campaign to combat
antisemitism and to lobby for legally enforced human rights
protections. In part as a result of this effort, in 1944 Ontario
passed the first human rights legislation in Canada, barring
discrimination on the basis of race or religion. In 1962 the
Ontario Human Rights Code was proclaimed and the On-
tario Human Rights Commission established to ensure the
Code was followed. Changing attitudes can be seen in the
election, back-to-back, of two Jewish mayors, Nathan *Phil-
lips (1955-62) and Philip *Givens (1962-66). Givens, at the

time he was mayor, was also president of the Canadian Zionist
Federation.

In addition to a growing spirit of openness, Toronto also
emerged from the war a prosperous center of commerce and
industry. Continuing demand for labor in and around To-
ronto drew migrants from within Canada and quickly forced
a reopening of immigration. Toronto continued to thrive
through the rest of the 20 th century. Manufacturing declined,
but the government and service sectors expanded. The city
grew through large-scale suburban expansion. Like most
North American Jews, Toronto Jews left crowded, aging hous-
ing downtown for the second of Toronto's Jewish neighbor-
hoods, the near suburbs - now considered the central region
of Jewish Toronto - above the core along Bathurst St. The near
suburbs developed as an uptown version of the dense Jew-
ish community that had been downtown. Continued immi-
gration as well as suburbanization brought Jews to this area.
Tens of thousands of Displaced Persons, including many Ho-
locaust survivors, settled in Toronto in the 1950s as Canada
became second only to Israel in the proportion of survivors
in its Jewish population. North African Jews and Hungarian
Jews arrived in Toronto in the 1960s. In addition, small-town
Ontario Jews seeking a more Jewish environment for them-
selves and their children also moved to Toronto as did many
young people from Montreal who moved out of fear of sepa-
ratism in Quebec during the 1970s and 1980s. Toronto also
attracted immigrants from the United States, including Viet-
nam draft resistors, and many from the former Soviet Union,
South Africa, and Israel. Each group brought its own Jewish
traditions, creating a unique Jewish community pluralism that
found expression in new congregations, schools, bookstores,
newspapers, bakeries, restaurants, clubs, and cultural associa-
tions. By 1991, the Jewish population of greater Toronto had
risen to 163,000, up from 67,000 in 1951.

Education

The near suburbs developed as population expanded from
the 1950s through the 1980s. Dozens of congregations of all
branches are found in the near suburbs. Forest Hill, which was
the subject of an early study of suburbia, Crestwood Heights,
is the home of Holy Blossom Temple, Canada's largest Re-
form congregation, and of Beth Tzedec, Canada's - and North
America's - largest Conservative congregation. Toronto's ex-
tensive network of Jewish schools, which began downtown
in the first wave of migration, flourished in the near suburbs.
The Toronto Jewish Federation decided in the early 1970s to
place considerable community resources into day school ed-
ucation. But instead of funding schools directly, the Federa-
tion started subsidizing tuition according to need. Day school
enrollment steadily increased, reaching parity with Jewish
supplementary school enrollment in the 1970s. Congrega-
tionally based supplementary schools remain the setting in
which many Toronto Jews have their Jewish education, but
the enrollments at Jewish day schools are now larger. And as
day school enrollment grew, so did the range of day school

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TORONTO

options. Orthodox day schools were joined by secular Zionist,
Conservative, and Reform day schools and others with dis-
tinctive pedagogical approaches. Orthodox schools on the
yeshivah model are also late 20 th century additions to the To-
ronto Jewish school system.

As the day schools grew at the elementary level, Fed-
eration leaders planned for a high school which would be an
alternative to the public high schools that prepare students
to do well at university. The Community Hebrew Academy
of Toronto, which opened in the 1960s, has had continually
increasing enrollment, to over 1,400 students in 2004-5. I n
contrast to the expansion of the day school system, there are
still many school-age Jewish children who do not receive any
formal Jewish education. As in other North American Jewish
communities, there is support for a model of lifelong learn-
ing in summer camps, campus programs, and adult educa-
tion. Both the University of Toronto downtown and suburban
York University have well-staffed and well-enrolled programs
in Jewish Studies and many congregations have active adult
education programs.

Community Organization

The Toronto uja Federation, which was created by the merger
of the Ontario branch of the ^Canadian Jewish Congress with
the Toronto Jewish Welfare Fund in the 1970s, acts as the cen-
tral agency of the community. By the end of the 20 th century
the Federations uja campaign in Toronto was annually rais-
ing about $50 million. It allocates funds to a wide diversity of
needs. About one- third of the annual uja income goes over-
seas and almost 10 percent to Canada-wide Jewish organiza-
tions. Of the part that remains in Toronto about 40 percent
is allocated to Jewish education and identity. Of that amount,
two-thirds is used for subsidy of Jewish day school tuition.
Significant Federation allocations support a range of social
services often in conjunction with funding from different lev-
els of government. The Jewish Family and Child Service is the
leading agency in this area. The Federation acquired responsi-
bility for the two Jewish community centers in the 1990s. The
Toronto Jewish community has also developed a wide range
of services for the elderly. The Baycrest Centre for Geriatric
Care is one of the worlds outstanding facilities. In addition to
the support from Federation, Jewish schools, social services,
and other organizations do their own fundraising. The Or-
thodox community is also organized for its particular needs,
sponsoring a bet din and maintaining a well -organized Va'ad
Hakashrut, which uses the cor label.

York Region and Downtown Toronto

Jewish population expanded along Bathurst Street beyond
the near suburbs into York Region, north of the city of To-
ronto. This area is today the third distinctive Toronto Jewish
neighborhood. The first step was the intentional creation of a
Jewish neighborhood in the 1980s and this set the stage for a
later transformation of this previous farming landscape into
dense automobile -dependent suburbs. The developer of a large
tract along Bathurst Street set aside a plot for a large Orthodox

synagogue and encouraged Jewish day schools to build. The
area soon became an affluent, largely Orthodox neighborhood
from its inception. In addition to the synagogues and schools,
the local shopping center contains a large grocery chain ex-
tensively stocked with kosher items, a Jewish bookstore, and
kosher restaurants. Jews, not all Orthodox, have continued to
move northward in York Region, attracted by large modern
housing developments, Jewish schools, and the perception of
the region as the "new neighborhood." By 2001, York Region
accounted for 33 percent of the Jewish population of the gta,
and with so many younger Jewish families it was home to 40
percent of Jewish children and tightly packed with hockey
clubs, music lessons, and carpooling.

uja Federation has begun building a York Region cam-
pus that will include Federation offices, a Jewish community
center, and several different day schools. Synagogues, while
present, are less visible parts of the area landscape than they
are in the near suburbs, since a number of existing day school
buildings have space in which congregations can meet. So-
cially, the neighborhood is also distinctive. It has a large per-
centage of recent immigrants from Israel and the former So-
viet Union. Street life, characteristic of Toronto Jewry two
generations ago and still common downtown and in parts of
the near suburbs, is much reduced, shifting to the malls that
dot Bathurst Street in York Region which provide the setting
for the leisure-time spending on entertainment, snacks, and
consumer goods.

In counterpoint to the development in York Region,
downtown Toronto has also seen a rapid revival in Jewish
population growth. Much of downtown Toronto was gen-
trified in the latter 20 th century. This urban transformation
brought thousands of Jewish professionals and business peo-
ple into renovated homes. With its combination of safe streets,
public transportation, pedestrian street culture, and access to
jobs and the arts, central Toronto is considered a very desir-
able place to live. Some areas with competitive house prices
remain, but much of the increase in the Jewish population is
occurring due to extensive recent condominium construction,
which is adding hundreds of thousands of residential units to
the central city. Recently formed Jewish congregations have
joined several historic ones. New schools were founded in the
1970s and have grown since. The downtown Jewish Commu-
nity Centre was renovated in the early 2000s and the Hillel at
the University of Toronto's downtown campus constructed a
new center at the same time. The Ashkenaz Festival of "new
Jewish culture," which grew out of the klezmer revival, is held
over Labor Day weekend every second year at Harbourfront,
an urban park on the Lake Ontario waterfront.

M ult ic ult uralis m

Toronto is today a city where immigrants from all over the
world and the children of immigrants constitute a large ma-
jority of the population. This multicultural reality is celebrated
by city boosters and Toronto Jews as a vital part of that urban
context. The ability of people from a pluralism of origins to

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TORQUEMADA, TOMAS DE

live together in Toronto without overt racial tensions and the
widely held view that new immigrants enrich the local cul-
ture and economy are seen as measures of the city's tolerance.
Multiculturalism also continues Canada's older tradition of
seeing itself as a mosaic society The separate tiles of a mosaic
touch and form a richer larger whole, but they do remain sepa-
rate. While there are social settings where persons of different
backgrounds meet, and a growing segment of Toronto society
where friendships and families are drawn from more than one
group, social segmentation continues. This is aided by new
technologies which allow extensive and low-cost contact with
the old country. Modern transportation also encourages more
travel back and forth than was possible for previous waves of
migration. This applies to Toronto Jews as well as the general
population. Toronto Jews, for example, maintain a strong at-
tachment with Israel. Many Toronto Jews have family in Israel,
whom they visit and stay in contact with. Others who do not
have family have visited and many have friends and profes-
sional contacts there. As well, many Israelis have moved to
Toronto, some temporarily and others permanently.

Multiculturalism is also associated with the clustering
of Toronto Jews in their own neighborhoods. Many older
downtown neighborhoods still have ethnic labels, although
the residents of these neighborhoods are now quite mixed.
Clustering in ethnic neighborhoods is also common in the
new suburbs. A large concentration of Italian Canadians is
found west of the Jewish neighborhood in York Region, and
the largest Chinese urban diaspora in the world, a product of
recent and continuing immigration, is to its east. Other im-
migrant groups, including growing Muslim and Arab popu-
lations, are residentially concentrated elsewhere in the central
city and suburbs of the gta. Multiculturalism is also associ-
ated with the willingness to respect the public show of distinc-
tive lifestyles. Accordingly, not only is Toronto a good place to
be a secular, Reform, Reconstructionist, or Conservative Jew,
but it is also a good place to be an Orthodox Jew. The value
placed on diversity can sometimes engender unlikely alliances.
In the 1990s, supporters of Toronto Jewish day schools, and
the Ontario Region of the Canadian Jewish Congress acting
on their behalf, joined Conservative Christian and Muslim
private school supporters in a multifaith coalition. The coali-
tion unsuccessfully urged the Ontario government to follow a
policy similar to that of other provinces, which allocate public
funds to private religious schools.

Toronto, which is now by far Canada's largest city, has
developed into a major world center, a node in a global net-
work of communications, commercial, and population flows.
Greater Toronto's Jewish population topped 179,000 Jews
in 2001 and now accounts for approximately half of all Jews
in Canada. And that population is projected to grow. Jews
play important roles in sustaining and developing Toronto's
social and economic network, not unlike the role Jews play in
other world cities. The Jews of Toronto, as in other world cities,
are also continually challenged to creatively and productively
blend the separate identities fostered by multiculturalism

with the cosmopolitanism of an interconnected global so-
ciety.

bibliography: C.H. Levitt, and W. Shaffir, Riot at Christie
Pits (1987); C. Shahar and T. Rosenbaum, Jewish Life in Greater To-
ronto: A Comprehensive Survey of the Attitudes & Behaviors of Mem-
bers of the Greater Toronto Jewish Community (2005); S.A. Speisman,
The Jews of Toronto: A History to 193/ (1979).

[Stuart Schoenfeld and Harold Troper (2 nd ed.)]

°TORQUEMADA, TOMAS DE (i420?-i498), first head of
the Spanish "Inquisition. Probably born in Valladolid, he en-
tered the * Dominican Order at the age of 14, and soon took
his place among the strictest members of the monastery. At
the age of 32 he became prior of the monastery of Segovia.
Torquemada first came in contact with Queen Isabella around
1469; he became her confessor and some time later also her
husband King Ferdinand's. His influence on the royal couple,
especially on the queen, made him a powerful factor in Span-
ish politics. In conjunction with Cardinal Mendoza he drafted
a petition to the Pope requesting authorization of the estab-
lishment of a unified national Spanish Inquisition. This was
given in 1478. Torquemada was among the 12 clerics whose
names were submitted to the pope in 1482 for inquisitorial ap-
pointments. At that time he was already known for his extreme
views on the eradication of Judaism among the * Conversos
and the question of the Jews in the united Spanish kingdom.
After confirmation of his appointment he started to prepare
the organization of the Inquisition, and founded its general
supreme council, which became one of the councils of state
and a key power in the internal affairs of the united kingdom.
As head of the council, Torquemada was accorded the title
inquisitor general (1483).

Torquemada established a system of regional inquisi-
tional tribunals, at first in smaller towns near centers of Con-
verso influence where opposition from the local population
to the inquisitorial methods was manifest. Later, tribunals
were also set up in larger towns. Torquemada initiated con-
ventions of inquisitors (the first was held in Seville in 1484)
to discuss the activities of the tribunals. He also drew up per-
manent instructions for the tribunals on working methods,
as well as judicial procedures. In addition to the trials held
by the Inquisition, the first results of Tor quern ada's activities
concerning Conversos and Jews were the orders of expulsion
from Andalusia (1483) and Albarracin (i486). In particular,
there was the libel of * Host desecration and alleged crucifix-
ion of a Christian child involving a group of Conversos at *La
Guardia (1490-91).

In the sphere of general politics Torquemada pressed for
resumption of the war of Reconquest against the kingdom of
* Granada. After Granada's conquest he was instrumental in
obtaining the general decree of expulsion of the Jews from
Spain (1492). A widely related legend - probably without his-
torical foundation - tells of negotiations between a Jewish
delegation headed by Don Isaac *Abrabanel and the king: the
king was offered the sum of 30,000 dinars for abolition of the

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TORREY, CHARLES CUTLER

expulsion decree, but Torquemada, who was listening to the
talks from an adjacent room, broke into the kings room, put
a crucifix on the table, and reminded him of Judah Iscariot
who had betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Influenced by
Torquemadas appearance, the king rejected the Jewish offer.

In 1494 additional inquisitors were appointed, who were
allocated many of Torquemadas former competencies. The
appointments were evidently made because of Torquemadas
failing health, not because of a decline in his influence. In the
early 1490s he proceeded severely against bishops and clerics
suspected of requesting the pope's support against his meth-
ods and policy, the essence of which were to turn Spain into
a country of "one flock with one shepherd."

Torquemada had already become a legend in his lifetime,
and various assessments - often contradictory - have been
made of his personality by writers and scholars. He became
a symbol of religious and ideological fanaticism, of persecu-
tion, investigation and interrogation, and probing into the
souls of men.

bibliography: Baer, Spain, index; E. de Molenes, Torque-
mada et Vlnquisition (1897); H.C. Lea, A History of the Inquisition of
Spain (3 vols., 1906, repr. 1958), index; T. Hope, Torquemada, Scourge
of the Jews (1939); B. Llorca, in: Sefarad, 8 (1948), 360-3, 374-81.

[Haim Beinart]

TORRE, ALFONSO DE LA (1421-1461), Spanish Converso
author. Torre, a humanist, is known principally for his Vysyon
Delectable de la Philosophia y artes liber ales, a kind of univer-
sal encyclopedia presented in the form of a series of dialogues
which he wrote c. 1450. It quoted *Maimonides extensively and
was in its turn frequently cited by Solomon ibn Verga in his
Shevet Yehudah. The sixth chapter of the work, dealing with
arithmetic, includes a detailed discussion of the numerologi-
cal aspects of the Kabbalah.

The Vysyon has been termed a link between the Judeo-
Arabic thinkers of the Middle Ages and *Spinoza, and it en-
joyed great influence in its own day and for the subsequent
two centuries. First published in Burgos in 1485, it was one
of the few non- Hebrew books printed by Abraham *Usque,
who produced an Italian version in Ferrara in 1554. The Italian
text was ultimately retranslated into Spanish by the Marrano
Francisco (Joseph) de *Caceres (Frankfurt, 1623 1 , 1663 2 ), who
was probably unaware that its original author was himself a

Spaniard and a Converso.

[Kenneth R. Scholberg]

TORRES, HENRY (1891-1966), French lawyer and politician.
Born in Les Andelys, Torres practiced law in Bordeaux and in
1919 moved to Paris. A communist in his youth, he published
Histoire dun complot (1921) protesting against the arrest of
militant communists after World War 1 but later joined the
Socialist Party and was a radical socialist deputy from 1932
to 1936. He became famous for the fiery eloquence of his ad-
vocacy as a defense counsel. His reputation reached its peak
in 1926 with his successful defense of Shalom *Schwarzbard,

who assassinated the Ukrainian leader Simon *Petlyura. By
using the evidence of the pogroms initiated by Petlyura against
the Ukrainian Jews, Torres obtained Schwarzbards acquittal.
After the Nazi invasion of France, Torres fled to the United
States. In America he campaigned against the Petain regime
in France, publishing La France trahie: Pierre Laval (1941; Eng.
tr., 1941) and La Machine infernale (1942; Campaign of Treach-
ery, 1942) and edited La Voix de France from 1942 to 1943, a
political journal for French refugees in New York. After World
War 11, Torres returned to France and from 1948 to 1958 was
a Gaullist senator for the Seine department. Vice president of
the High Court of Justice from 1956 to 1958, he was also presi-
dent of the French broadcasting authority (rtf).

Torres was the author of several political and historical
works, among them Le Proces des Pogromes (1927) describing
his defense of Schwarzbard, and France, terre de liberte (1940).
He also wrote plays with a legal background including French
versions of the Trial of Mary Dugan by Bayard Veiller (1928),
and Witness for the Prosecution by Agatha Christie (1956).

[Shulamith Catane]

TORRES, LUIS DE (i5 th -i6 th cent.), Spanish interpreter
to Christopher * Columbus on his first voyage of discovery
in 1492. Contrary to what was formerly believed, he was the
only person of Jewish birth who was among the companions
of Christopher Columbus on his first voyage, having been
baptized shortly before the expedition sailed. He knew He-
brew, Aramaic, and some Arabic. When Columbus landed in
Cuba, convinced it was the mainland, he took possession of
it for Spain and dispatched Torres with a party into the inte-
rior to see if they could find gold. Torres reported back that
the natives were friendly, that he had found no gold but that
he had seen men putting thin rolls of dried leaves called to-
bacco into their mouths, lighting them and blowing out clouds
of smoke. Torres settled in Cuba and won the friendship of
the Indian ruler who gave him land and slaves. He soon set
up his own small empire. As an independent ruler of Span-
ish territory, he received an annual allowance from the Span-
ish royal family.

bibliography: Roth, Marranos; M. Kayserling, Christopher
Columbus... (1907 2 ).

°TORREY, CHARLES CUTLER (1863-1956), U.S. Bible
scholar and Semitist. Born in East Hardwick, Vermont, Torrey
taught Latin at Bowdoin College (1885-86), and Semitics, Bible,
and Hebraica at Andover Theological Seminary (1892-1900)
and at Yale University (1900-34). He was one of the founders
of the American School of Archaeology in Jerusalem. Subse-
quent archaeological finds and advances in Semitic linguistics
and in lower and higher biblical criticism have been damaging
to many of Torrey s contributions in the estimation of pres-
ent-day scholarship. He developed an independent exegesis
of the period of Ezra and Nehemiah in The Composition and
Historical Value of Ezra-Nehemiah (1896), Ezra Studies (1910;
1970), and Chroniclers History of Israel (1954). Following E.

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TORTOISE

Koenig's commentary on Isaiah, he argued in Second Isaiah
(1928) for the unity of Isaiah 40-66, and assigned Isaiah 34-35
as the introduction to this corpus. In his articles on Ezekiel
in the Journal of Biblical Literature and in Pseudo -Ezekiel and
the Original Prophecy (1930; 1970 4 ), he expounded his theory
regarding the nature and composition of the Book of Ezekiel.
His thesis was that the bulk of the prophecy contained in the
canonical Book of Ezekiel was pseudepigraphic, composed
around 230 B.C. e. but purporting to date from the period of
Manasseh (692-639 b.c.e.), and later in 200 b.c.e. edited so
as to appear to be an exilic work. It provoked, however, a bit-
ter attack by S. Spiegel, who advocated caution in the critical
analyses and wanton emendations of Ezekiel.

His often cited theory that the Synoptic Gospels, John,
and Revelations, as they have been handed down are for the
most part straightforward translations of Aramaic originals,
was developed in a number of publications including Transla-
tions Made from the Original Aramaic Gospels (1912), Four Gos-
pels: A New Translation (1934), Our Translated Gospels (1936),
Documents of the Primitive Church (1941), and the posthumous
Apocalypse of John (1958). How deeply the koranic tradition is
steeped in the Hebraic culture is documented in Jewish Foun-
dation of Islam (1933; 1967). His other Islamic studies are Mo-
hammedan Conquest of Egypt and North Africa (1901) by Ibn
Abd al-Hakam, edited with notes and selections of the writ-
ings of Al-Buhaa (1948; 1969). In the area of numismatics he
investigated the Aramaic graffiti on coins buried in 318 b.c.e.
and belonging to Jews of Egypt (1937), and he wrote on the rare
coinage of the Khans of Khokand and Bukhara Gold Coins of
Kokhand and Bukhara (1950). His other publications include a
treatise on the composition of Acts The Composition and Date
of Acts (1926); and an introduction to the apocryphal literature
(Apocryphal Literature; A Brief Introduction^ 1945).

bibliography: M. Greenberg, in: C.C. Torrey, Pseudo-
Ezekiel and the Original Prophecy (1970), xi-xxxv (prolegomenon);
W.E Stinespring, in: idem, Ezra Studies (1970), xi-xxviii (prolegom-
enon); F. Rosenthal, in: idem, Jewish Foundation of Islam (1967),

v-xxiii (introd.).

[Zev Garber]

TORTOISE (Mod. Heb. 3S), a reptile. In Israel there are sev-
eral species of both land and water tortoises; the latter lives
in both sweet and salt water. Some commentators identify
the 2§ (zav), enumerated among the unclean reptiles (Lev.
11:29), with the tortoise, and on this basis it is so called in
modern Hebrew. According to rabbinical sources, however,
the zav is a species of *lizard. Thus the expression "the zav af-
ter its kind" is explained as including the salamander and
other reptiles which bear no resemblance to the tortoise (see
Sifra 6:5). Similarly a resemblance between the zav and the
snake is mentioned (Hul. 127a), and the hardon, a species of
lizard of the family of Agamidae (tj, Ber. 8:6, 12b). From this
last source it is apparent that "the zav after its kind" includes
the Agamidae family, of which six species are found in Israel,
the largest of which is the Uromastix aegyptius called in Ara-

bic dabb. It is found in the Negev and the Arabah and is her-
bivorous. The Bedouin hunt it and regard its flesh as a great
delicacy.

bibliography: Lewysohn, Zool, 23of.; F.S. Bodenheimer,

Animal and Man in Bible Lands (1960), 10, 99; J. Feliks, Animal World

of the Bible (1962), 10.

[Jehuda Feliks]

TORTOSA, city in Tarragona provinces, N.E. Spain; it had
one of the oldest Jewish communities in the Iberian Penin-
sula. A tombstone inscribed in three languages (Hebrew, Latin,
and Greek) belonging to the first centuries of the Christian
era (opinions conflict as to its exact date) attests the early ex-
istence of Jews in the city. The Jewish quarter was situated in
the northern part of the town, now slightly north of the dis-
trict known as Remolinos; the Jewish cemetery (from which
only a few tombstones have survived) was situated to the east
of the city wall. The existence of the quarter is commemo-
rated by the names of such streets as Jerusalem Alley and
Jerusalem Street.

Muslim Period

During the Muslim period many Tortosa Jews engaged in ag-
riculture and in the flourishing maritime trade, maintaining
commercial ties with Jews of Barcelona and southern France.
The city was also a center of Jewish learning as is shown by
10 th - and n th -century responsa which indicate a high level of
talmudic knowledge and devout religious observance. The
poet, grammarian, and lexicographer *Menahem b. Jacob
ibn Saruq (mid-io th century) was a native of Tortosa and re-
turned to his birthplace after losing the patronage of *Hisdai
Ibn Shaprut of Cordoba. Another native of Tortosa, the physi-
cian and geographer *Ibrahim b. Yaqub, Menahem's contem-
porary, was sent by Caliph al-Hakam 11 to travel and survey
Western and Central Europe. The Hebrew liturgical poet Levi
b. Isaac ibn Mar Saul lived in Tortosa in the early 11 th century.
Ashtor (see bibliography) estimates Tortosas Jewish popula-
tion in the 11 th century at about 30 families.

Under Christian Rule

Ramon Berenguer iv, count of Barcelona, captured Tortosa
from the Muslims in 1148. The treaty of capitulation was simi-
lar to that of * Tudela, but the article which prohibited the ap-
pointment of Jewish officials with rights of jurisdiction over
Muslims was omitted. It appears that the Jewish community
was destroyed during this war of conquest and Ramon Beren-
guer attempted to restore it. He set aside a plot of land between
the coast and the R. Ebro, which was then fortified and sur-
rounded with towers, on which 60 residential houses were
built. Berenguer also granted the Jews vineyards and gardens
which had formerly belonged to Muslims, so that the culti-
vation of these became the principal occupation of the Jews,
in addition to crafts and maritime trade. He also promised
land to any Jew who would settle in Tortosa, and Jews were
exempted from the payment of taxes for four years. Even af-
ter this period, they were not required to do any "work, cus-

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TORTOSA

tomary tasks or duties for the count or the other lords of the
land, unless of their own free will." The ruler decreed that no
Muslim should exercise authority over Jews; lawsuits between
Jews and Christians were to be adjudicated under the privi-
leges enjoyed by the community of Barcelona. These condi-
tions were an exceptional opportunity for the development of
the Jewish community.

However, the hopes which Berenguer had placed in the
Jews did not materialize because of the division between the
various lords of the town who challenged his authority over
it and severely oppressed the Jewish population. In February
1181, Alfonso 11 of Aragon granted the Jews of Tortosa a priv-
ilege, with the consent of Raimundo de Moncada (who held
the right of jurisdiction over the Jews of the town) according
to which they were authorized to present one of the town's
lords with a gift without incurring the obligation of giving
gifts to the others. Pledges were not to be taken from them
for their debts, they were not to be confined to their houses,
and if they were condemned to imprisonment, they were to
be detained in the fortress (see Rashba (Solomon b. Abraham
*Adret), Responsa, iv, 260). The sum which was paid in taxes
in 1271 - 6,000 solidos - testifies to the strength and wealth
of the community. Tortosa and Alcanez then formed a single
entity, for tax purposes.

Pedro in granted the Jews of Tortosa the right of sitting as
judges in the local tribunals, though with a lower rank than the
Christian judges. During the 13 th century Jews were employed
as bailiffs by the Moncada family and by the Templars.

At the beginning of the 14 th century, the community of
Tortosa addressed a complaint to James 11 against the mora-
torium on debts which he had granted to the Christian inhab-
itants of the town, claiming that oral promises that the debts
owed to them would be repaid could not be relied upon.

Result of the Persecutions of 1391

The community of Tortosa suffered during the persecutions
of the Jews in Spain in 1391. On July 24, John 1 wrote to the
municipal council, requiring them not only to protect the
Jews but also to rehabilitate the community. At the end of the
month the Jews were still concealed in the fortress, but from
the beginning of August they were taken away individually to
the houses of the townsmen in order to be baptized, by force
if necessary. Christian townsmen and Jewish apostates col-
laborated in these acts, the latter compelling the conversion
of their wives, parents, and children. On August 14 disorders
broke out against both the Jews and the municipal authorities
who were accused of giving the Jews assistance and support.
By arresting the instigator of the disorders, the municipal lead-
ers succeeded in suppressing the riots; many Jews, however,
abandoned their religion during these events. After more than
a month (on Sept. 2), the king wrote to the municipal lead-
ers of Tortosa requesting information concerning the heirless
property of the Jews who had died as martyrs. In April 1392
he authorized the impoverished Jews who were then living in
the fortress to remain there and ordered the bailiff to protect

them. Turning his attention to the relations between Jews and
*Conversos, the king issued a decree (Aug. 18, 1393) in which
he prohibited Jews and Conversos to live in the same quarter,
to eat or to pray together. Upon the instructions of the bishop,
the Conversos were obliged to attend church, listen to mis-
sionary sermons, adhere to Christian observances, and im-
mediately separate themselves from the Jews. The Jews were
compelled to wear a distinctive *badge and garb, and sexual
relations between Jews and Christians (obviously referring to
Conversos) were punishable by burning at the stake. It nev-
ertheless appears that toward the close of the century (1397) a
number of laws favorable to both the Jews and the Moors of
Tortosa were issued.

Disputation of Tortosa

In 1412 Tortosa became the focus of events which the Jews of
Aragon regarded with trepidation, and that proved a turning
point in their history, namely, the Disputation of Tortosa (see
*Tortosa, Disputation of). The community of Tortosa itself
was represented by the poet Solomon b. Reuben *Bonafed
who gives a description of the tense atmosphere which per-
vaded throughout the kingdom in general, and in Tortosa in
particular, during the disputation.

The disputation began on Feb. 7, 1413, and was continued,
with interruptions until Nov. 1414.

In 1417 the community of Tortosa began to recover. Al-
fonso v exempted Jews who came to live there from payment
of taxes for five years. There is also some information on the
community from the reign of Ferdinand 11, who in 1480 issued
a decree in which he instructed the community of Tortosa on
the procedure for electing community leaders, trustees, and
*muqaddimun. In October 1481 he issued further instructions
concerning the swearing-in of officials, and also authorized
the election of relatives (e.g., father, son, brothers, father-in-
law and son-in-law) to serve in the community - a practice
forbidden by the regulations of the Spanish communities. Fer-
dinand 11 ordered the election of Benveniste Barzilai as the
leader of the community.

An indication of the atmosphere in Tortosa on the eve of
the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 can be deduced
from the fine imposed on Abraham Toledano of Tortosa, who
made a wager, with a number of Christians that the Catholic
Monarchs would not capture Loja and Malaga from the Mus-
lims. Tortosa, like neighboring Barcelona and Tarragona, was
also a port of departure for Jewish refugees from Spain.

bibliography: Muslim period: Ashtor, Korot, 1 (i960),

226-9; idem, in: Zion, 28 (1963), 48-49. christian period: Baer,

Spain, index; Baer, Urkunden, 1 (1929), index; H.C. Lea, A History

of the Inquisition of Spain, 1 (1906), 544; F. Carreras i Candi, Lal-

jama dejueus de Tortosa (1928); Neuman, Spain, index; F. Vendrell,

in: Sefarad, 10 (1950), 353fF., 362f.; D. Romano, ibid., 13 (1953), 79ff.;

A. Lopez de Meneses, in: Estudios de Edad Media de la Corona de

Aragon, 6 (1952), 748-9; J.M. Font Rius, in: Cuadernos de Historia de

Espaha, 10 (1953), i24ff.; E. Bayerri y Bartomeu, Historia de Tortosa

y su comarca, 4 (1954), 90 ff.; F. Cantera, Sinagogas espanolas (1955),

319 f.; Cantera-Millas, Inscripciones, 267-77.

[Haim Beinart]

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TORTOSA, DISPUTATION OF

TORTOSA, DISPUTATION OF, disputation held in Tortosa,
in 1413-14, the most important and longest of the Christian-
Jewish ^disputations which were forced upon the Jews during
the Middle Ages. It was apparently prompted by Geronimo de
Santa Fe (the apostate Joshua *Lorki) in which he claimed to
prove the authenticity of the messianism of Jesus from Jewish
sources. In 1412 the anti-pope ^Benedict xin, who was recog-
nized as pope in Spain, ordered the communities of Aragon
and Catalonia to send delegates for a discussion in his pres-
ence on the claims of Geronimo. The disputation was drawn
out over some 20 months, and 69 sessions were held; it was
presided over by the pope, who also actively participated in it.
From the outset, the disputation did not assume the form of a
free discussion between two parties but that of a propagandist
missionary attack accompanied by psychological pressure - to
the point of intimidation and threats - by the Christian side
against Jews, in order to compel them to accept the arguments
of their adversaries. The principal Hebrew source for the his-
tory of the disputation is Shevet Yehudah by Solomon *Ibn
Verga. The Jewish sources mention about 20 participants on
the Jewish side; some of these actively participated, while oth-
ers were advisers and observers. A neutral Christian account
of the debate is also extant. In the disputation, the most prom-
inent personalities were rabbis *Zerahiah ha-Levi, Astruc ha-
Levi, Joseph *Albo, and Mattathias ha-Yizhari.

Immediately upon the first encounter, the pope an-
nounced - contrary to the promises which he had previ-
ously given to the Jews - that it was not intended to hold a
discussion between two equal parties, but to prove the truth
of Christianity and its principles, as it emerges from the Tal-
mud. Geronimo opened the disputation with a veiled threat
against the obstinate Jews, and during the disputation he
passed to open threats. To the arguments presented by the
Jews, he retorted by accusing them of heresy against their own
religion, for which they would be tried by the Inquisition. In
this heavy atmosphere, the Jewish delegates were overtaken
by fear and confusion and occasionally did not dare - or did
not succeed - in answering correctly, especially because those
replies which did not please the pope aroused vulgar rebukes
on his part which only intensified their fears and anxieties.
During the disputation new participants appeared on the
Jewish side, and their arguments were not always coordinated
with the former; besides, the last word was always granted to
Geronimo, so that the impression could be formed that he
had the upper hand.

During the first part of the disputation (until March
1414), the discussion revolved around the Messiah and his
nature (as in the Disputation of ^Barcelona). Its second part
concerned the "errors, the heresy, the villainy, and the abuse
against the Christian religion in the Talmud," according to
the definition of the initiators of the disputation, and resem-
bled the disputation of Paris, initiated by Nicholas *Donin.
The Jews were requested to answer the claims of Geronimo
which appeared in his work that was being used as the basis
of the disputation, and to explain various Midrashim which

had been collected by Raymond *Martini. After a while, 12
questions were presented to the Jews on the subjects of Jesus,
Original Sin, and the causes of the Exile. The discussions on
these subjects were prolonged over several months. It was at
this stage that some of the most brilliant answers ever given
to questions of this type in similar disputations of the Middle
Ages were offered.

At the beginning of 1414 Pope Benedict entered the dis-
putation himself and demanded that the procedure be short-
ened and practical conclusions arrived at. Most of the Jews
sought to withdraw from the disputation because during their
prolonged absence from home and as a result of the mental
strain prevailing among their communities, faith was being
undermined and there was rising despair, while the mission-
ary preachings of the monks had succeeded in bringing many
Jews to baptism. Zerahiah ha-Levi, Mattathias ha-Yizhari, and
Astruc ha-Levi, however, presented memoranda in which they
refuted all the arguments drawn from aggadot and Midrashim.
R. Astruc even dared to point out the injustice inhering in the
actual conditions of the disputation. The delegates of the com-
munities were away from their homes for about a year; they
became impoverished and tremendous harm was caused to
their communities; this may also be regarded as a reason for
the failure of the Jews to reply successfully. Geronimo reacted
with words of contempt against the Talmud and the Jews who
denied the validity of the aggadah y he argued that they ought
to be tried according to their own laws as unbelievers of the
principles of their faith.

The second part of the disputation opened in April 1414.
Its details are not entirely known, but it is clearly evident
that at first the Jews chose to remain silent. When Geronimo
brought a list of sayings which were to be effaced from the
Talmud as impugning the honor of Christianity, the Jews re-
plied that they themselves were unable to answer, although it
was certain that the sages of the Talmud in their time would
have been able to reply, and that consequently the value of
the Talmud could not be deduced from their own weakness;
they once more requested to be freed from the disputation.
Geronimo summarized his arguments and demanded of the
pope that the delegates be brought to justice. The latter, with
the exception of Zerahiah ha-Levi and Joseph Albo, claimed
that they failed to understand the meaning of Geronimo's
citations. On November 12, the memorandum of R. Astruc
was presented as the last Jewish memorandum, and on the
following day the disputation was concluded with the issue
of a bull on the subject by the pope, and the Jews returned
to their homes.

Consequences of the Disputation

Throughout the period of the disputation, Jews continually
arrived in Tortosa, where they converted to Christianity.
The authorities, on their part, intensified their persecutions,
and ordered that everything which had been disqualified by
Geronimo should be obliterated from the Talmud. The dis-
putation in itself acted as an incentive for anti- Jewish incite-

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TORTS

ment, and in several towns the inhabitants adopted severe
measures in order to force the Jews to convert. Many broke
down and accepted baptism. Three works were written after
the Disputation of Tortosa in an attempt at soul-searching:
Sefer ha-Ikkarim ("Book of Principles") of R. Joseph Albo,
in which the author clarified the religious fundamentals dis-
cussed at the disputation; Sefer ha-Emunot ("Book of Beliefs")
by R. *Shem Tov, who regarded the cultivation of philosophy
as the cause of conversion; and Iggeret Musar ("Letter of Eth-
ics") by R. Solomon *Alami, who considered that disrespect
toward religion and ethics was the cause of the destruction
of Spanish Jewry.

bibliography: S.Z.H. Halberstam, in: Jeschurun, 6 (1868),

45 ff. (Heb.); J.D. Eisenstein, Ozar Vikkuhim (1928), 104-11; Baer,

Spain, index; Y. Boer, Die Disputation von Tortosa, 1413-1414 (1931);

idem, in: Sefer Zikkaron le-Asher Gulak u-li-Shemu'el Klein (1942),

28-49; S. Lieberman, Sheki'in (1939), index; idem, in: hj, 5 (1943),

87-102; A. Posnanski, in: rej, 74 (1922), 17-39, 160-8; 75 (1923), 74-88,

187-204, 76 (1923), 37-46; A. Pacios Lopez, La Disputa de Tortosa,

2 vols. (1957).

[Haim Beinart]

TORTS.

The Principal Categories of Torts

The liability of various tortfeasors is discussed in relative detail
in the Torah. Four principal cases are considered:

(1) where someone opens a pit into which an animal falls
and dies (Ex. 21:33-4);

(2) where cattle trespass into the fields of others and do
damage (Ex. 22:4);

(3) where someone lights a fire which spreads to neigh-
boring fields (Ex. 22:5);

(4) where an ox gores man or beast (Ex. 21:28-32, 35-6).
To those has to be added the case where a man injures his fel-
low or damages his property (Ex. 21:18-19, 22-5; Lev. 24:18-20).
The Talmud calls the cases contained in the Torah primary cat-
egories of damage (*Avot Nezikin) and these serve as arche-
types for similar groups of torts. The principal categories of an-
imal torts are shen (tooth) - where the animal causes damage
by consuming; regel (foot) - where the animal causes damage
by walking in its normal manner; and keren (horn) - where
the animal causes damage by goring with the intention of do-
ing harm or does any other kind of unusual damage. The other
principal categories of damage are bor (pit) - any nuisance
which ipso facto causes damage; esh (fire) - anything which
causes damage when spread by the wind; and direct damage by
man to another's person or property. These principal catego-
ries and their derivative rules were expanded to form a com-
plete and homogeneous legal system embracing many other
factual situations. As a result they were capable of dealing with
any case of tortious liability which might arise.

The Basis of Liability - Negligence

The Talmud states that a man could be held liable only for
damage caused by his negligence (peshiah), and not for dam-
age through an accident (ones). Negligence is defined as con-

duct which the tortfeasor should have foreseen would cause
damage (bk 21b; 52a/b; 99b), since this would be the normal
result of such conduct. Thus liability would be incurred for a
fire which spread in an ordinary wind (bk 56a) or for fencing
a courtyard with thorns in a place frequented by the public
who habitually lean against this fence (bk 29b).

The rabbis ruled that negligence was to be determined
objectively. A man is liable for conduct which people would
normally foresee as likely to cause damage (see R. Ulla's state-
ment, bk 27b; Tosef. bk 10:29). On the other hand, if his con-
duct was such that most people would not normally foresee it
as likely to cause damage, the damage is considered a mishap
and not a consequence of his act and he is not liable (see Rif,
Halakhot on bk 61b). Even if the defendant was of above-av-
erage intelligence and foresaw that damage would occur, he
could not be held liable for conduct causing damage if most
people would not have foreseen damage as resulting from
such conduct. In such circumstances no liability would be in-
curred under human law for even willful damage (see Ra'ah
and Meiri in Shitah Mekubbezet, bk 56a, beginning U-le-Rav
Ashi) unless the damage claimed was depredation (bk 27a).
However, rabbinical enactments created liability for deliber-
ate acts in certain cases in the interests of public policy (Git.
53a; Tosef. Git. 4 (3):6). The objective criterion of negligence
was also applied where the tortfeasor was of below-average in-
telligence and incapable of foreseeing the possibility of dam-
age. However, the deaf-mute, idiot, and minor are not liable
for the damage they cause, since they have no understanding
and cannot be expected to foresee the consequences of their
actions. Indeed, since they frequently do cause damage, those
encountering them should take suitable precautions, and if
they fail to do so would themselves be liable for the resulting
damage. In this respect damage caused by the deaf-mute, id-
iot, and minor can be compared to damage by cattle on public
ground for which the owners are not liable since the injured
party himself is bound to take precautions.

This test of negligence was applied to all the principal
categories of damage mentioned in the Torah (see bk 55b and
Rashi beginning ke-ein). Thus, if an animal was injured by fall-
ing into an inadequately covered pit, the owner of the pit was
liable. On the other hand, if the pit were properly covered but
the cover became decayed, he would not be liable (bk 52a).
Similarly, the owner of the pit would be liable if a young ox,
incapable of looking after itself, fell into an open pit, but not if
the ox were fully grown and fell into the pit during the daytime
(Milhamot ha-Shem 52b ad finem). Likewise, liability would
be incurred for a fire which spread in a normal wind but not
where it spread in an unusual wind (bk 56a); and the owner
of cattle which consumed and trampled on crops in another's
field would be liable for the damage only if the control he ex-
ercised over his cattle was insufficient to prevent this kind of
damage (bk 55b, 56a).

As to damage done by man directly, the Mishnah states:
he is always Muad (forewarned, and therefore liable for the
consequences), whether he acted intentionally or inadver-

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TORTS

tently, "whether he was awake or asleep" (bk 26a). Neverthe-
less, many cases are mentioned where the man who did the
damage was not liable and Tosafot (bk 27b) tried to solve the
contradiction by distinguishing between cases of absolute
"ones" and qualified "ones" Only in the latter case would li-
ability be incurred. There is no hint of this distinction in the
sources and the better view seems to be that a tortfeasor is li-
able only if he caused damage by ones (compulsion) which
could have been foreseen by him, as putting himself in the
hands of robbers who forced him to do damage, or lying
down to sleep next to objects which he should have foreseen
he might break in his sleep, aliter, if the vessels were placed
next to him after he went to sleep. Likewise a person who
caused damage through his lack of expertise could only be
held liable where he should have foreseen that expertise was
required. However, a person who caused proprietary damage
to his neighbor in order to save himself is not exempt because
of ones, as he chose to act in a way which would damage his
neighbors property and did foresee the damage.

No Liability Where No Negligence Exists

Cases where the defendant is entirely exempt from liability
because he was in no way negligent are of two kinds:

(1) the plaintiff himself was negligent because he should
have foreseen the possibility of damage i.e., where the defen-
dant acted in the usual way and the plaintiff acted in an un-
usual way and the damage was therefore unforeseeable;

(2) neither party could have foreseen the possibility of
damage and therefore neither was negligent. An instance of
the second kind is where an animal, kept under sufficient con-
trol, escaped in an unusual manner and did damage, and no
liability would be incurred (bk 55b). Similarly, where an ani-
mal managed to start a fire or dig a pit which caused damage,
no liability would be incurred since such an unusual eventual-
ity could not have been foreseen (see the Ravad in the Shitah
Mekubbezet, bk 48a beginning "Mat"; bk 22a). The Talmud
cites examples where no liability would be incurred, such as
where an animal fell into a pit whose covering was originally
adequate but which later became decayed (bk 52a); where a
wall or tree unexpectedly fell onto the highway (bk 6b); where
a fire spread further than could have been anticipated (bk
61b); where a burning coal was given to a deaf-mute, idiot, or
minor who set fire to something (bk 59b); or experts such as
physicians who acted in the usual professional manner and
caused damage (Tosef. bk 9:11). As instances of the first kind
the Talmud cites the case where a person running along the
street collided with and was injured by another walking along
the street; here the former alone would be liable since his con-
duct was unusual (bk 32a). Similarly, if a man broke his vessel
against a beam carried by the man walking in front of him,
the owner of the beam would not be liable. Aliter, however, if
the owner of the beam stopped unexpectedly, thereby causing
the vessel to strike the beam and break (loc. cit.). Likewise, a
person who places his objects on public ground where they are
damaged by animals walking or grazing in a normal manner

has no claim against the owner of the animals, since animals
are to be expected on public ground (bk 19b, 20a). However,
the presence of a pit, fire, or a goring ox on public ground
would cause liability for damage since they are not normally
present and people do not expect them and take no precau-
tions (bk 27b). It would also be unusual behavior and there-
fore negligence to enter another's premises or bring chattels
or livestock therein, without permission. Since his presence
was unexpected the owner of the premises would not be liable
for damage caused to the trespasser or his property, but the
trespasser would be liable for damage caused to the owner or
his property (bk 47a-b, 48a).

Sometimes a person is injured even though both parties
behaved in the usual manner, e.g., when both walk in the street
or if one enters the premises of another with permission. In
these cases the tortfeasor is not liable because the other party
should have taken precautions as he ought to have foreseen
the normal behavior of the tortfeasor. Likewise, damage may
occur when both parties behave in an unusual manner as
where both were running along the street or where both en-
tered the premises of a third party without permission (ibid.,
32a; 48a/b); in these cases too, the tortfeasor is exempt, since
the fact that he was behaving abnormally should have made
him foresee that others may behave abnormally too (Tos. bk
48b, s.v. "Sheneihem").

If without negligence a man creates a situation which
is likely to cause damage, he will not be liable for damage
caused before he had a reasonable opportunity to know about
the situation and remove it. An objective test was laid down
as to when a man should have known of the existence of the
nuisance and acted to remove it. If he adequately covered his
pit and through no fault of his own the pit was uncovered he
would not be liable for damage during the period that most
people would not have known that the pit had become open
and required covering (bk 52a). Similarly, if his animal es-
caped from his courtyard through no fault of his own, and
caused damage during the period in which he could not have
been expected to realize that the animal had escaped and to
recapture it, he would not be liable (see bk 58a and Meiri in
the Shitah Mekubbezet on 55b beginning "nifrezah"). Similarly
if a mans vessels broke non-negligently on the highway and,
without intending to abandon them, he left them there, he is
liable, except for damage caused by them before they could
have been removed (bk 29a). Similarly, the owner of a wall or
a tree which fell onto the highway and caused damage would
be liable only if he knew that they were in a bad condition or
was warned that they might fall (bk 6b).

The foreseeability test as the basis of liability for dam-
age led the rabbis to conclude that even where negligent the
tortfeasor would only be liable for damage that he could fore-
see. He is not liable for additional or other damage, or dam-
age greater than that foreseeable. Thus where a fire spread in
an ordinary wind the tortfeasor would be liable for whatever
could be seen to be within the path of the fire but not for what
was hidden, unless, according to R. Judah, he should have con-

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TORTS

templated the existence of hidden objects (bk 6ib). Similarly,
if a man dug a pit and did not cover it he would be liable for
injury to a young animal or to an animal who fell into it at
night but would not be liable for injury to a grown animal who
fell into it in daylight (bk 54b), or for a human being who fell
into the pit (bk 28b). If the pit was less than ten handbreadths
deep, he would be liable for injury only, since animals do not
normally die when falling into such a small pit (bk 3a). Like-
wise, liability for injury is restricted to the extent of its origi-
nal gravity If the injury becomes worse than was originally
estimated the tortfeasor is not liable for additional damage
(bk 91a). However, where the degree of damage was foreseen
but the way in which the damage occurred was unexpected
the rabbis disagreed as to whether the defendant should be
held liable, some arguing that the defendant was liable in neg-
ligence while others holding that the defendant could not be
liable for what he could not foresee. This situation is known
in the Talmud as Tehilato bi-Feshiah ve-Sofo be-Ones (negli-
gent conduct leading to accidental damage). Thus, if a man
put his dog on a roof and the dog fell off and broke nearby
objects (bk 21b), he would be liable in negligence for putting
his dog on the roof (since a dog could be expected to jump
off a roof) but not for the mode of damage, since he could not
have foreseen that the dog would fall.

Indirect Damage

The foreseeability test would appear to determine liability for
indirect damage (*gerama) where the damage is the ultimate
consequence of the defendant's act. Only if the defendant
should have foreseen the damage occurring would he be held
liable for indirect damage.

Unusual Damage by Cattle

Unusual animal torts, such as goring, lie between liability in
negligence for foreseeable damage and exemption for acci-
dental damage. In such cases the animal's owners are liable for
half-damages (bk 14a). But if the animal was a habitual gorer,
having gored three times, the owner would be liable for full
damage, since the damage was neither unusual nor unfore-
seeable. On the other hand, the owner would be completely
exempt if he was not negligent at all. Thus, if the defendant's
animal gored the plaintiff on the defendant's premises, no li-
ability would normally be incurred since the defendant could
not have foreseen that the plaintiff would enter his premises.

Defenses to Negligence

A person who negligently causes damage is not liable for dam-
ages in three situations:

(1) where he received permission from the plaintiff to
cause damage (bk 92a, 93a), e.g., was allowed to feed his cattle
in the plaintiff's field;

(2) where the defendant, in his capacity as a court official
was given permission by a court to harm the plaintiff, e.g., by
administering punishment (Tosef. bk 9:11);

(3) where the damage inflicted was nonphysical, e.g.,
distress and sorrow (where there is no physical pain), or eco-

nomic or commercial damage (bk 98a); for liability for dam-
age is restricted to physical damage.

Damage Committed by the Person and by His Property

A distinction is found in several places in the Talmud between
damage by a person and damage by his property (bk 4a; 4b).
The difference is that liability for damage by the person is
confined to negligent acts of commission whereas liability for
damage by his property can also be incurred by negligent acts
of omission. Thus, a man who spilt another's wine must pay for
the damage, whereas if he saw the other's wine spill and did
nothing to help him recover it, he would not be liable. On the
other hand, the defendant whose ox grazed in the plaintiff's
field would be liable for damage caused by the animal either
because he put the ox there or because he did not adequately
prevent its escape. Similarly, a man who did nothing to pre-
vent a stray fire from spreading onto the highway would not
be liable even though he was able to prevent the fire's spread-
ing. He would be liable, however, if he caused the fire negli-
gently or if he did not prevent the spread of a fire from his
own premises, even though he did not start it.

Joint Tortfeasors

Where damage was caused by the negligence of two or more
persons, the parties are liable in equal proportions. If the
plaintiff and the defendant were equally negligent, the plain-
tiff recovers half damages from the defendant and loses the
remainder (see Tos. bk 23a, s.v. "U-Lehayyev"). The negligence
of each tortfeasor is one of two types:

(1) where he should have foreseen that his negligence
alone would cause damage;

(2) where he should have foreseen that damage would
result from his conduct, coupled with that of the other tort-
feasor, even though his conduct alone would not be expected
to lead to damage.

Thus if two men dug a pit together, they would both be
held liable in negligence for damage caused by the pit (bk 51a).
However, if only one of them was negligent, he alone is liable.
Thus, a man who concealed sharp pieces of glass in his neigh-
bor's dilapidated wall which the latter was about to pull down
onto public ground would be liable in negligence to anyone
injured by the glass pieces, whereas the neighbor would incur
no liability since he could not have anticipated the presence of
glass pieces in his wall (bk 30a). Similarly, someone who put
objects by the side of a man sleeping would be solely liable if
the latter broke the objects in his sleep (tj. bk 2:8, 3a).

Where damage was caused by two tortfeasors, the first
leading the second to perform the act, the rabbis were divided
as to the liability of the party performing the damage. Exam-
ples of such cases, which are known as Garme (see *Gerama
and * Garme), include informing about another's property
which leads to its seizure (bk 117a) and the hiring of false wit-
nesses (bk 55b). In each case the party performing the damage
had a choice as to whether to act tortiously or not. If he had
no choice in the matter because of lack of intelligence or the
required expertise, he is no more than a tool in the hand of

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TORTS

the first tortfeasor and the latter is liable for all the damages.
Thus a man who puts an idiot or minor in charge of fire and
thorns is liable for all the damage if his neighbor s house is
burnt down (bk 59b); and the defendant who tells his neigh-
bor to bring him his animal from the premises of a third party
is solely liable if it transpires that the animal does not belong
to the defendant at all and that the latter attempted to steal it
(Tos. ibid.y 79a).

Israel Law

The Israel law of torts is covered by the Civil Wrongs Ordi-
nance (1944, new version 1968), originally enacted by the Brit-
ish Mandatory authorities, which came into force in 1947, and
several amendments enacted by the Knesset. The ordinance
is modeled on English law and section 2 explicitly refers to
English law for explanations of, and supplements to, the or-
dinance.

See also *Avot Nezikin; *Gerama and *Garme; *Dam-

ages

[Shalom Albeck]

NEGLIGENT MISREPRESENTATION AS GROUNDS FOR AC-
TION in torts. In the Amidar case (ca 86/76 Amidar Na-
tional Company for Immigrant Housing in Israel Ltd. v. Abra-
ham Aharon, 32 (2) pd 337, 348) Israeli Supreme Court, Justice,
Menachem Elon implemented the talmudic principle regard-
ing damage caused by negligence in providing information. He
noted that in Jewish law a person is liable for damages caused
as a result of negligently conveying incorrect information,
through which damage is caused (ibid., 350). A person who
negligently conveys incorrect information to another, even in
good faith, is responsible for the damage caused to the other
person as a result of his acting upon that information. It makes
no difference if the information was conveyed in writing or
orally; in business negotiations or otherwise; by a professional
or by someone with no special qualifications in the field. On
the contrary, in certain cases a layman's responsibility may be
even greater than that of a professional because, in addition to
conveying incorrect information, the very fact that he agreed
to advise and provide information in a field in which he has
no professional expertise, is an act of negligence. The essential
and central condition for liability is that the provider of the
information knew, or should have known, under the circum-
stances, that the person receiving the information intended to
rely on his words and to act accordingly. Liability for damages
exists when the provider of the information acted negligently
and without the reasonable measure of caution with which a
reasonable person ought to have acted.

PAYMENT OF COMPENSATION FOR DAMAGE BEYOND THE
REQUIREMENTS OF THE LAW (LI-FENIM MI-SHURAT HA-

din). Justice Elon stressed in his decisions that under certain
circumstances the tortfeasor, may be exempt from liability for
damages due to various reasons, such as the absence of a causal
connection between the negligence and the damage that was
caused. However, he may be obliged to compensate the victim
by force of his duty to act in a manner which is li-fenim mi-

shurat ha-din - beyond the requirements of the law. The duty
of behaving more generously toward others, in a manner that
is beyond the requirements of the law is an established prin-
ciple and binding legal norm in Jewish law, and was the basis
of his ruling in the Kitan case (ca 350/77 Kitan Ltd. v. Sarah
Weiss, 33 (2) 809-811). In that case Justice Elon ruled that even
where a person is exempt from liability for damages according
to the laws of torts, he is liable, under certain circumstances,
to pay compensation for damage incurred in order to "fulfill
his duty in the sight of heaven" (lazeit yedei shamayim) (see,
e.g., bk 55b). It is therefore appropriate that the Court inform
the litigants of the obligation incumbent upon them in this
sphere (see ca 842/79 Ness v. Golda, pd 36 (1) 220-221; and
see at length: ^Damages).

THE LIABILITY OF A RECALCITRANT SPOUSE. The wife Or

husband of a recalcitrant spouse, who refuses to give or receive
a Jewish bill of divorce (get) is entitled to sue the spouse in the
Family Matters Court for his or her losses and agony as a result
of being forced to wait for a valid divorce bill (get), when the
refusal is unjustified. Subject to conditions stipulated by Jewish
divorce law, the wife or husband of the recalcitrant spouse may
be entitled to damages under two grounds of action recognized
in Israeli law: negligence, and breach of statutory duty.

Coercive measures, including an obligation to pay money,
intended to pressure the husband or wife to give or receive a
get, are occasionally considered by Jewish Law as unlawful
duress that invalidates the writ of divorce. However, in other
circumstances such coercive measures do not invalidate the
get. As a result, the principles of Jewish law concerning coerced
divorce (get meuseh) are important regarding the scope of civil
liability of the recalcitrant spouse. The wife's attempts to se-
cure her get by way of a damages action against the recalcitrant
husband may have negative ramifications in future divorce
proceedings in the rabbinical court. For example, a rabbinical
court may refuse to hear an action for divorce until the woman
abandons her tort action, or waives her right of action in torts,
or signs over to her husband any sum obtained through a tort
action. It may even refuse to arrange a get, on the grounds
that a get granted by the husband or received by the wife after
being obligated to pay compensation for the damage that was
caused the recalcitrant spouse maybe deemed unlawfully co-
erced (meuseh), and therefore invalid. Accordingly, it has been
suggested that the Israeli legislator should intervene in an at-
tempt to avoid these undesirable consequences.

Scholars have suggested a model of legislation that may,
to a certain extent, alleviate the suffering of a woman or
man awaiting a get and which would induce the recalcitrant
spouse to give or receive the desired get. And of equal impor-
tance - such legislation would similarly ensure the validity
of the get when actually given, so that the woman's or man's
fundamental will is realized. This legislation will enable the
Family Matters Courts to grant the aforementioned compen-
sation in torts only when the rabbinical court has ruled that
the husband or wife: (1) may be compelled (kofin) to give or

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOSAFOT

receive a. get, or (2) is obligated (hiyyuv) to render or receive

a get. Other relevant limitations, stemming from principles

of Jewish law, are also taken into consideration (see Kaplan

& Perry, Bibliography).

[Yehiel Kaplan (2 nd ed.)]

bibliography: Ch. Tchernowitz, Shiurim ba-Talmud, 1
(1913); Gulak, Yesodei, 2 (1922), 201-37; idem, in: Tarbiz, 6 (1935),
383-95; B.B. Lieberman, in: Journal of Comparative Legislation, 9
(1927), 231-40, I.S. Zuri, Torat ha-Mishpat ha-Ezrahi ha-Ivri, 3, pt.
1 (1937); J.J. Weinberg, Mehkarim ba-Talmud, 1 (1937/38), 180 ff.; J.S.
Ben-Meir, in: Sinai, 7 (1940), 295-308; G. Horowitz, The Spirit of
Jewish Law (1953), 569-623; B. Cohen, in: Studi in onore di Pietro
de Francisci, 1 (1954), 305-36; reprinted in his: Jewish and Roman
Law (1966), 578-609, addenda; ibid. 788-92; S.J. Zevin, in: Sinai, 50
(1961/62), 88-95; idem, in: Torah she-be-Al-Peh, 4 (1962), 9-17; Sh.
Albeck, Pesher Dinei ha-Nezikin ba-Talmud (1965); Elon, Mafteah,
181-8. add. bibliography: M. Elon, Ha-Mishpat ha-Ivri (1988),
1:128, 138, 185, 34if., 495f-> 498, 648, 75of., 823f.; 2:868; 3:1370, 1381;
ibid, Jewish Law (1994), 1:144, !56> 207, 4iof; 2:6o2f., 607, 802, 925 f.,
ioo8f.; 3:1060; 4:1635, 1645; idem, Jewish Law {Cases and Materi-
als) (1999), 50 fF., 145 ff.; M. Elon and B. Lifshitz, Mafteah ha-Sheelot
ve-ha-Teshuvot shel Hakhmei Sefarad u-Zefon Afrikah (legal digest)
(1986), 2:293-99; B. Lifshitz and E. Shochetman, Mafteah ha-Sheelot
ve-ha-Teshuvot shel Hakhmei Ashkenaz, Zarefat ve-Italyah (legal di-
gest) (1997), 204-07; A. Sheinfeld, Nezikin, (1992); Y.S. Kaplan, "Ele-
ments of Tort in the Jewish Law of Surety," in: Shenaton ha-Mishpat
ha-Ivri, 9-10 (1982-83), 359-96; Y.S. Kaplan and R. Perry, "Tort Li-
ability of Recalcitrant Husbands," in: Tel Aviv University Law Review,
28 (2005), 773-869.

TORUN (Ger. Thorn), port on the R. Vistula, N. central Po-
land; founded by the Teutonic Order in the 13 th century, and
incorporated into Poland in 1454. Jews first visited Torun on
*market days only; in 1766 six Jewish families were permitted
to settle there, as in the 18 th century there was a great demand
for Jewish merchants who traded in cloth manufactured in To-
run. In the second half of the 18 th century some were attacked
by members of the guilds because, in conjunction with the
guildmasters, they lent money for interest to the craftsmen.

Torun passed to Prussia in 1793-1806. When included
in the principality of Warsaw in 1806-14 it had a larger num-
ber of Jewish inhabitants. It reverted to Prussia from 1814 to
1920, when the Jewish population increased. It numbered 248
in 1828; 1,371 (5% of the total population) in 1890; 1,100 (2.3%)
in 1905. Culturally, the Jews were closest to German Jewry. A
Jewish primary school was founded in 1862. In 1891 a literary
and cultural association was founded (Litteratur und Culturv-
erein zu Thorn) with the objective of broadening knowledge
of Jewish history and literature, without political or religious
implications. A Jewish Women's Association (Israelitischer
Frauenverein) to aid sick and needy women was founded in
1868. The increase of antisemitism in Pomerania and the re-
gression in the economy of Torun at the end of the 19 th cen-
tury led to a decrease in the number of Jews living there. After
Torun reverted to Poland in 1920, the local Jewish population
became one of the smallest in Polish towns of that size, num-
bering 354 (0.9% of the total) in 1925.

[Jacob Goldberg]

Holocaust Period

On the outbreak of World War 11 there were about 1,000
Jews in Torun. The community was liquidated in the autumn
of 1939, when the Jews were expelled to the territory of the
General Government. After the war the community was not
reconstituted.

bibliography: Mitteilungen des Gesamtarchivs der deutschen
Juden (1910); Dzieje Torunia (1934); J. Wojtowicz, Studia nad ksztal-
towaniem sie ukladu kapitalistycznego w Toruniu (i960).

TOSAFOT (Heb. niDDiD; lit. "additions"), collections of com-
ments on the Talmud arranged according to the order of the
talmudic tractates. In general the point of departure of the
tosafot is not the Talmud itself but the comments on it by the
earlier authorities, principally *Rashi. Where and when the
tosafot were compiled, their types, and their historical and
literary development are among the most fundamental and
difficult problems in the study of rabbinic literature. The con-
cept of the tosafot was originally bound up with the method of
study characteristic of the schools of Germany and France in
the n th -i4 th centuries. Their beginnings go back to the gen-
eration of Rashi s pupils and descendants, who undertook to
expand, elaborate, and develop their teacher's commentary on
the Talmud (*Kunteres) by making it the foundation of talmu-
dic studies in the schools which they headed. In fact Rashi s
commentary is a concise summary, arrived at through precise
sifting and literary adaptation, of the tradition of studying
the Oral Law prevalent in the principal French and German
schools where he had studied for many years. By a careful pe-
rusal of his commentary those who followed him were able
to acquire for the first time a profound and harmonious com-
prehension of the Talmud. Through questioning Rashi's state-
ments - on the basis of the talmudic theme under discussion,
or of one found elsewhere, or of Rashi's own comments on
some other passage, the tosafists sought to answer their ques-
tions by pointing to differences and distinctions between one
case and another or between one source and another. In this
way they produced new halakhic deductions and conclusions,
which in turn became themselves subjects for discussion, to
be refuted or substantiated in the later tosafot.

The terms ve-im tomar ("and if you were to say") and ve-
yesh lomar ("and then one may answer") - almost exclusively
characteristic of this literary genre - are the most commonly
used in the tosafot and more than anything else typify their es-
sential character. This vast work was produced entirely within
the yeshivot in the form of oral, animated discussions between
the heads of the yeshivot and their pupils. In these discussions,
views were often put forward which, either in principle or in
detail, differed from Rashi's. Such views abound in the tosafot,
both in the names of their authors and anonymously. After
Rashi's death, the teaching and study methods of Isaac *Alfasi,
*Hananel b. Hushi'el, and *Nathan b. Jehiel of Rome, which
represented a tradition of learning basically different from the
local one, began to penetrate into France and Germany. The
tosafists took every occasion to quote these novel views and

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOSAFOT

compare them with their own traditions. Simultaneously, a
large number of new versions of the Talmud also reached the
tosafists, giving them almost unlimited opportunities for argu-
mentation and for advancing new interpretations by incorpo-
rating the Babylonian-North African tradition into their own.
Another novel feature was the extensive use by the tosafot of
the Jerusalem Talmud. While this resulted from the tosafists'
critical comparative method of learning itself, a contributing
factor was undoubtedly their acquaintance with the teachings
of Hananel b. Hushi'el, who had a particular predilection for
the Jerusalem Talmud.

Originally and formally the tosafot were written as "ad-
ditions" to Rashi's comments. From these modest beginnings
almost nothing of which has been preserved and whose most
notable representative is apparently Isaac b. Nathan, Rashi's
son-in-law, a movement developed - and it was undoubtedly
a movement with all the spiritual implications of the word.
Within a few years this movement became the dominant force
that for centuries shaped the method of learning the Torah,
first in Germany and France (including Provence), and, from
the days of *Nahmanides, also in Spain. The spirit of the to-
safists is already apparent in *Samuel b. Meir, Rashi's grand-
son. He and his brothers Jacob *Tam and * Isaac b. Meir were
not only the first but the most important tosafists in France.
The chief architect of the tosafot > and the driving force behind
them for many generations, was Jacob Tarn. It was he who laid
down their pattern and final form. He was followed by his
nephew *Isaac b. Samuel of Dampierre. These two overshadow
not only the scores of tosafists, their pupils, who are known
by name from collections of tosafot > but also the hundreds of
others whose names have not been preserved. Samuel b. Meir's
older contemporary, *Isaac b. Asher ha- Levi, who had studied
under Rashi at Troyes and then later returned to Germany, was
the first tosafist in Germany in his new yeshivah at Speyer. In
the history of Torah study there was no essential difference in
the i2 th -i3 th centuries between France and Germany, for it was
a common occurrence for pupils to move from one territory
to the other, the subdivision of the Carolingian Empire hav-
ing no relevance in the cultural life of the Jews. Nevertheless,
for the sake of convenience, a distinction is made between the
two when describing the successive generations of the tosaf-
ists in these centuries.

The tosafot were written down as "shitot? interpreta-
tions which the pupils of the yeshivot committed to writing
under the auspices of their teachers. In these notes the pupils
recorded the substance of the halakhic discussions which
had taken place in the yeshivah, incorporating their teacher's
views as well as the arguments for and against them, and add-
ing their own opinions. The teachers reviewed their pupils'
notes, correcting and improving them, thus giving them their
personal stamp. Very little remains of the original language
of Tarn's statements, which are quoted everywhere in the to-
safot ", and the text of his Sefer ha-Yashar, too, went through
many hands. The same is true of the original notes of Isaac
b. Samuel ha-Zaken of Dampierre; he is cited on almost ev-

ery page of the tosafoty but only isolated phrases of his actual
wording have been preserved. These notes by the foremost
pupils, which had received the approbation of their teachers,
passed from one yeshivah to another between France and
Germany, and in the process various additions were made to
them. However, several substantial works are extant which
were written by the leading tosafists themselves, such as Sefer
Yere'im by *Eliezer b. Samuel of Metz, Sefer Mitzvot Gadol
by *Moses of Coucy, Sefer Mitzvot Katan by *Isaac of Cor-
beil, Sefer ha-Terumah by *Baruch b. Isaac of Worms, Sefer
ha-Rokeah by *Eleazer b. Judah of Worms, and others. Later
editions abstracted from these works statements which they
incorporated in the tosafot.

Although the tosafot are characterized by keen thought
and great originality, it is impossible to distinguish any in-
dividual style or approach among the many tosafists, about
a hundred of whom are known by name. It was the special
method of learning that determined the approach and set the
intellectual standard which all the tosafists had to meet. Some
of them surpassed others by reason of their eminent halakhic
authority and the many pupils who spread their teachings;
some produced more novellae and interpretations than oth-
ers; but these are quantitative differences, and any qualitative
distinctions there may have been are not reflected in their
teachings. Moreover, theirs was teamwork in the full sense
of the word, and a novel view quoted in the name of an indi-
vidual scholar was frequently the result of an involved discus-
sion among many, each one of whom contributed something
to the final outcome.

A general account of the historical development of the
tosafists movement is reliably and accurately given in E.E.
Urbach's voluminous and monumental Baalei ha-Tosafot
(1955), which deals in chronological order with all the im-
portant tosafists and their literary work. They lived in scores
of clustered cities in France and Germany. Many are known
by their own and their fathers' names, although their identi-
fication is not always certain. Sometimes the same scholar is
mentioned with considerable differences in various sources.
Yet a minute knowledge of this history contributes little to a
better understanding of the tosafot themselves. For although
there was undoubtedly a certain continuity and a clear link
between teacher and pupil, the functional structure of the to-
safot was based on freedom in learning and teaching, which
permitted a pupil to disagree with his teacher in the theoreti-
cal apprehension and frequently even in the practical signifi-
cance of the talmudic themes.

In the vast ocean of the tosafot a distinction is made be-
tween several "types" or rather "collections" of tosafoty which
are the outcome of different editings, and are distinguished
from one another by the contents of their argumentation
but not in their methodology. This systemization is impor-
tant for a historical account of the various tosafot and for an
understanding of what is known as "our tosafot" - i.e., those
included in the present-day printed editions of the Talmud -
and also for a comprehension of the way in which the tosafot

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOSAFOT

penetrated into Jewish cultural spheres beyond the confines
of France and Germany. Generally, there are many passages
among these various types of tosafot, which are parallel ma-
terially (in the preference for one answer to a problem over
another, etc.), although not in their actual phraseology. The
first important collection of tosafot is the tosafot of Sens of
*Samson of Sens, whose literary heritage is greater than that
of most tosafists. Portions of them are extant in the author's
own words. When contemporary German scholars quoted
from "French tosafot" they generally referred to him. Written
on the whole Talmud and modeled on the French tradition
which Samson had learned from Isaac b. Samuel of Dampi-
erre, the tosafot of Sens served as the basis of most subse-
quent collections, their influence being clearly discernible in
"our tosafot" to many tractates. Though the tosafot of Evreux
of the brothers Samuel, Moses, and Isaac of Evreux have not
yet been fully investigated with reference to their literary
identity, character, and influence, it is evident that they too
were influenced by the tosafot of Sens. Although the tosafot
of *Meir of Rothenburg and * Perez b. Elijah, who were almost
contemporaries, enjoyed great renown in earlier times, they
are no longer extant, except for remnants of varying length.
Some tosafot of theirs, and especially of Meir of Rothenburg,
exist in manuscript. Particularly well known are the tosafot
of Touques composed by *Eliezer of Touques and based on
those of Sens, which he adapted, abbreviated, and expanded
by including new interpretations of later dates. These new
interpretations were written as marginal notes to the tosafot
themselves, and the quotations from the gilyonot ("marginal
notes") found largely in Shitah Mekubbezet are generally his.
The tosafot of Touques were included by the earliest printers
in their editions of the Talmud (from 1484 onward), thereby
establishing a tradition generally followed up to the present,
so that the printed tosafot in more than ten large tractates are
those of Touques. Quantitatively they comprise the largest part
of "our tosafot" so called in contrast to collections of tosafot in
manuscript and to those later printed in the margin of the Tal-
mud or in separate works, which are referred to as tosafot ye-
shanim ("old tosafot"). There are two further types, the "tosafot
Rosh" of *Asher b. Jehiel, which were widely studied chiefly in
Spain and the tosafot Rid of *Isaiah b. Mali di Trani of Italy,
which present a difficult literary problem. Asher b. Jehiel's to-
safot contain few original interpretations, some of which are
mainly based on the tosafot of Sens, with "Spanish" additions.
Most of them are in print. The tosafot of the scholars in Eng-
land before the expulsion (1290) are in the process of being
published from a recently identified manuscript.

The techniques and style of tosafot literature were not
limited specifically to the Talmud, there being an extensive
literature of tosafot on the Pentateuch. These have Rashi as
their starting point also, but they go far beyond him by pro-
pounding questions and answers to them, by curtailing and
expanding, in the exact manner of the tosafot to the Talmud.
Like the latter, they are divided into German and French to-
safoty the German "style" being generally recognizable by its

numerous *gematriot y which were used as a significant exe-
getical principle. Usually the same scholars are mentioned in
the tosafot both to the Talmud and to the Pentateuch. Some
scholars, however, devoted themselves exclusively to bibli-
cal exegesis, such as Joseph *Bekhor Shor, Joseph *Kara, and
others of whom almost nothing except their names is known,
and who were apparently mainly aggadists. The chief charac-
teristic of the tosafists to the Pentateuch is their halakhic ap-
proach. On the basis of the talmudic halakhah, the actions of
each biblical figure, whether righteous or evil, are weighed and
explained. Thus this literature created a unique fusion between
the argumentation characteristic of the talmudic halakhah and
biblical exegesis that, in its own way, aimed at arriving at the
literal interpretation.

Samuel b. Meir wrote " tosafot" to Alfasi's halakhot - al-
though they are not tosafot in the usual sense of the word and
are more in the nature of glosses; only a few extracts from
them have been preserved. *Moses b. Yom Tov, an English
tosafist, also wrote tosafot on Alfasi. However there is no evi-
dence that tosafot were regularly written on Alfasi, although
the earlier authorities studied him extensively. The same hap-
pened once again in Germany in the 15 th century when follow-
ing on persecutions and the resultant lowering in the status of
learning there, there was a move away from the study of the
Talmud to that of Alfasi.

From France and Germany the tosafot penetrated first to
Spain, where the earliest scholar to quote the tosafist literature,
although in a very limited form, was Meir ha- Levi *Abulafia.
But it is evident that this literature was still a novelty for him
and it is clear from his works that he preferred the Spanish
tradition of learning, which differed completely from the to-
safists' method of study. The latter was introduced into Spain
by two scholars related to one another, Jonah *Gerondi and
Nahmanides, who had either studied in France or with teach-
ers from there. Nahmanides' novellae on the Talmud incorpo-
rate the best of the tosafot, adopting their views and comparing
them with those of the earlier Spanish scholars. While assign-
ing almost the same value to both, he preferred the superior
Spanish talmudic texts and its links with the teachings of the
Babylonian geonim. Nahmanides was undoubtedly the first to
introduce the study of the tosafot into Spain, and his pupils
and their pupils after them, Solomon b. Abraham *Adret and
*Yom Tov b. Abraham Ishbili, established the study of the to-
safot there. Among these scholars and their contemporaries,
who were the heads of large yeshivot and wrote many works
on the entire Talmud, the tosafistic element increasingly pre-
dominated over that of the early "Spanish" element, so that
from their time on the method of the tosafot was adopted in
Spain both in theory and in practice. A contemporary of these
two scholars, *Asher b. Jehiel, who had come from Germany to
Spain with his sons, was the second scholar to bring the study
of the tosafot to Spain, thereby encouraging and advancing the
process already flourishing there. His chief contribution was
to reinforce and consolidate this process by writing tosafot
on most of the tractates of the Talmud. These were based on

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOSEFTA

those of Sens in many places and incorporated the local Span-
ish teachings. In Spain Asher b. Jehiels version of the tosafot
was regarded as the more accurate, in contrast to the French
tosafot, which had been current until then among the scholars
there. Thus while Nahmanides and his bet midrash introduced
the tosafists' method of study and most of their teachings into
Spain, the text of the tosafot was laid down by Asher b. Jehiel,
whose tosafot subsequently became the only ones officially
studied in all the Spanish yeshivot.

The influence which the tosafot have had on the entire
history of learning among the Jewish people up to present
times is inestimable. A "page of Gemara' invariably refers to
the text itself, Rashi's commentary (called perush), and the
tosafot, and is called Ga-Pa-T, the initial letters of Gemara,
perush and tosafot. That the early printers included the to-
safot as the companion commentary to Rashi's in their edi-
tions was not fortuitous, but because this was the customary
combination. Wishing to enhance the value of their product,
they accordingly printed the tosafot at the side of the page.
In later times, from the expulsion from Spain (1492) onward,
an extensive literature was produced whose object was to an-
swer the questions raised in the tosafot which conflicted with
Rashi, and in any event to attain a deeper comprehension of
the principles underlying both. Among the most notable of
these works are Sefer ha-Maharsha of Samuel Edels, Hiddushei
ha-Maharam of Meir b. Gedaliah of Lublin, Meginnei Shelomo
of Joshua Falk 1, Hiddushei Maharam Schiff of Meir Schiff of
Fulda, Horaat Shaah of Solomon and Isaac Heilprin, and oth-
ers. For greater convenience some of these works, which were
highly esteemed by scholars, have been printed at the end of
the editions of the Talmud. This type of literature also ap-
peared among Jews in the East, later Spain, Egypt, etc., where
an accurate and systematic methodology was produced of the
principles of Rashi and the tosafot so that their divergent views
could be better understood. The most outstanding of these
works is Darkhei ha-Gemara by Isaac Canpanton.

On the other hand, some leading scholars considered the
combined study of the Talmud and the tosafot at an early age
as pedagogically wrong, in that it did not permit young stu-
dents to arrive at an independent, straightforward, and cor-
rect comprehension of the Talmud and its themes. Instead it
imposed on them from the outset the methods of *pilpul and
of hillukim (forms of talmudic casuistry), which from the be-
ginning of the 15 th century were associated with the study of
the tosafot in Poland and Germany. In the early days of their
appearance the tosafot were already criticized, and there were
scholars in the 14 th century who considered studying them a
waste of time. But the criticism began to gather force only with
the development of the casuistic method of hillukim which
was intrinsically associated with the tosafot.

bibliography: Urbach, Tosafot; idem, in: Essays Presented
to... I. Brodie (1967), 1-56 (Heb. pt.); A.F. Kleinberger, Ha-Mahashavah
ha-Pedagogit shel ha-Maharal mi-Prag (1962); J. Lifschitz (ed.), Tosafot
Evreux... le-Sotah (1969), introd.; I. Ta-Shema, in: Sinai, 65 (1969),
200-5; Gross, Gal Jud; R.N.N. Rabbinovicz, Ma'amar al Hadpasat ha-

Talmud, ed. by A.M. Habermann (1952); Perush al Yehezhel u-Terei
Asar le-R. Eliezer mi-Belganzi (1913), preface by S. Poznariski; Germ
Jud; Assaf, Mekorot; V. Aptowitzer, Mavo le-Sefer Ravyah (1938); P.
Tarshish, Ishim u-Sefarim ba-Tosafot (1942).

[Israel Moses Ta-Shma]

TOSEFTA (Aram. xriDDin, Heb. JIDpin), literally an "ad-
ditional" or "supplementary" halakhic or aggadic tradition,
i.e., one not included in the *Mishnah of R. *Judah ha-Nasi.
Originally the term was used to designate any individual ad-
ditional or supplementary tannaitic tradition, and so was vir-
tually synonymous with the later Babylonian term *baraita. In
the later Babylonian tradition the term "tosefta" was used to
designate a particular body of such baraitot (Kid. 49b; Meg.
28b; Shav. 41b), and eventually it came to denote a particular
literary work, "the Tosefta" - a collection of halakhic and agga-
dic baraitot, organized according to the order of the Mishnah,
and serving as a companion volume to it. Though there may
once have been other such collections of tannaitic halakhot
and aggadot, the Tosefta is the only such collection to have
come down to us, and together with the extant *Midrashei
Halakhah, it provides the student with direct access to a large
body of ancient tannaitic sources, without the mediation of
later amoraic and post-amoraic talmudic tradition.

In most respects, the Tosefta is identical to the Mishnah.
Its Hebrew language is similar in all essential points to the
language of the Mishnah, and seems unaffected by later dia-
lects of amoraic Hebrew. The content, terminology, and for-
mal structures of the halakhah in the Tosefta are the same as
those in the Mishnah. The tannaim mentioned in the Tosefta
are the same as those mentioned in the Mishnah, with the ex-
ception that the Tosefta also mentions scholars from the two
following generations - almost all either direct descendents of
the tannaim mentioned in the Mishnah, or otherwise associ-
ated closely with the circle or the family of R. Judah Ha-Nasi.
From all of this it would seem clear that the Tosefta which
we possess today was redacted in the same circles in which
the Mishnah was redacted - the school of R. Judah ha-Nasi -
some 40 or 50 years later, and by his own disciples. Since the
last prominent scholar to be mentioned in the Tosefta (twice
only) is none other than R. Hiyya - a close relative and prime
disciple of R. Judah ha-Nasi - it is not surprising that tradi-
tion has ascribed to R. Hiyya the redaction of the Tosefta,
though there is no solid historical evidence which can con-
firm this suggestion.

In addition to containing two additional layers of tan-
naitic traditions, there are two primary differences between
the Mishnah and the Tosefta. First, the Tosefta is some three
to four times larger than the Mishnah. Second, the overall
order of the units of tradition found in the Tosefta is largely
dictated, not by internal criteria, but rather by the external
standard of the order of the Mishnah. It would therefore be
fair to say that the Tosefta as a whole represents a kind of
proto-talmud to the Mishnah - a large collection of tannaitic
traditions whose purpose is to supplement, to complement,

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOSEFTA

and in various other ways to expand upon the Mishnah of R.
Judah Ha-Nasi (see: *Talmud, Babylonian - The Four Stages
of Talmudic Tradition).

Both the critical examination of the Tosefta itself and
the comparison of the Tosefta to parallel tannaitic collec-
tions (Mishnah and Midrashei Halakhah) point toward one
simple conclusion - the Tosefta which we possess today was
collected and redacted in Erez Israel shortly after the redac-
tion of the Mishnah and in the same scholarly circles. Nev-
ertheless one of the greatest talmudic scholars, H. Albeck,
rejected this conclusion. His rejection of this conclusion was
not, however, based either on an examination of the internal
evidence of the Tosefta itself, or on a comparison of the Tosefta
to other tannaitic collections. Rather it was founded primar-
ily on a comparison of the Tosefta to the baraitot found in the
Babylonian Talmud and the Jerusalem Talmud. The talmudic
baraitot are in many ways very similar to the parallel tradi-
tions found in our extent tannaitic collections. On the other
hand there are also significant differences between them. As-
suming that the amoraim would not have dared to add, omit,
or in any other way intentionally change the ancient tannaitic
traditions which they had received (see *Mishnah, The Redac-
tion of the Mishnah), Albeck concluded that the baraitot in
the talmudim could not have derived from the tannaitic col-
lections which we today possess - the Tosefta and the extant
Midrashei Halakhah - but rather must have been drawn from
other collections of baraitot which have not survived in inde-
pendent form. Consistent with this view, he also ascribed the
redaction of our Tosefta to the end of the fourth century (at
the very earliest), i.e., after the main body of amoraic talmudic
literature had already largely taken shape. Since Albeck's as-
sumptions concerning the nature of the talmudic baraitot are
highly speculative at best, his views concerning the redaction
of the Tosefta cannot be maintained in the face of all the in-
ternal evidence of the tannaitic sources to the contrary.

Broadly speaking the relationship between the tradi-
tions found in the Tosefta to the parallel traditions found
in the Mishnah are of three kinds, the two relatively famil-
iar and well known, the third less so. First, a tradition in
the Tosefta can presuppose the exact text of our Mishnah,
and comment directly upon it. Alternatively the Tosefta can
transmit a different version of the same halakhah, either re-
porting the same opinion in different language, or reporting
other opinions concerning the same issue. There is however, a
third possibility: the Tosefta can transmit the halakhah of the
Mishnah in an earlier and more original version. In this third
case, the Tosefta may have preserved the "raw" material out
of which R. Judah ha-Nasi composed the version of the hala-
khah which is included in his Mishnah. This third possibility
has provided the focal point for some of the most fruitful and
creative recent scholarship on the Tosefta (Friedman, Tosefta
Atiqta). In addition to this parallel material, the Tosefta also
includes additional independent tannaitic traditions which are
either related topically to the halakhic or aggadic content of
the Mishnah, or associatively - attaching themselves to some

hint or reference which may have been mentioned in passing
in the Mishnah.

With the exception of Avot, Tamid, Middot, and Kin-
nim, every tractate in the Mishnah has a parallel tractate in
the Tosefta, though the precise character of the content of the
Tosefta tractate and its relationship to the material found in
the Mishnah can vary radically. Some have claimed that *Avot
de-Rabbi Nathan, once considered a late tannaitic work, serves
as a kind of "Tosefta" to Mishnah Avot. Recent research, how-
ever, has shown that arn is actually a rather late aggadic work
with no substantial connection to the Tosefta.

The Tosefta and R. Nehemiah

The Babylonian Talmud (Sanh. 86a) ascribes to R. Johanan the
statement that "Setam Tosefta Rabbi Nehemiah" - "Anonymous
statements in the Tosefta are to be attributed to R. Nehemiah."
Both the precise sense of this statement and its historical au-
thenticity require clarification. The full text of this statement
in the Babylonian Talmud runs as follows: "R. Johanan said:
Anonymous statements in the Mishnah are to be attributed
to R. Meir; anonymous statements in the Tosefta are to be at-
tributed to R. Nehemiah; anonymous statements in the Sifra
are to be attributed to R. Judah; anonymous statements in the
Sifre are to be attributed to R. Simeon - and all of them rep-
resent the views of R. Akiva." The first element in this state-
ment is almost certainly the literary and historical kernel of
this tradition, since it is the topic of a controversy between R.
Johanan and R. Simeon ben Lakish in the Jerusalem Talmud
(Yev. 4:11, 6b): "R. Johanan said: Any place where [Rabbi]
taught an anonymous Mishnah, that [anonymous Mishnah]
is [presumed to represent] the majority position, until one
receives explicit information from one's teacher [to the con-
trary]; R. Simeon ben Lakish said: Any anonymous Mishnah
is [presumed to represent the position] of R. Meir, until one
receives explicit information from one's teacher [to the con-
trary]." On the one hand, the Jerusalem Talmud ascribes the
view that anonymous statements in the Mishnah are R. Meir
to R. Simeon ben Lakish, and not to R. Johanan. On the other
hand the Jerusalem Talmud goes on to state that "R. Simeon
ben Lakish does not actually disagree with R. Johanan; he just
observed that most anonymous mishnayot happen to reflect
the view of R. Meir." It seems fairly clear that the primary in-
tent of R. Johanan's statement in the Jerusalem Talmud was
not historical, but rather legal. It asserts that one may pre-
sume that an anonymous Mishnah reflects the position of
the majority of sages, and hence is to be assumed to reflect
the normative halakhah. On the basis of this understanding
R. Johanan's words were summarized and transmitted in the
Babylonian Talmud (cf. the list in the margin of Shab. 46a) in
the following form: "R. Johanan said: The halakhah is in ac-
cordance with an anonymous Mishnah." Given this interpreta-
tion we may presume that the final comment of the Jerusalem
Talmud represents a (perhaps somewhat artificial) conflation
of the positions of these two sages: R. Simeon ben Lakish is
understood to have made an empirical observation concern-

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOUATI, CHARLES

ing the provenance of most anonymous mishnayot, while R.
Johanan has asserted a most significant halakhic determina-
tion - that anonymous mishnayot are to be accepted as nor-
mative halakhahy unless evidence is brought to the contrary.
In the Babylonian Talmud this complex tradition was sum-
marized and transmitted in the name of R. Johanan as follows:
"Anonymous statements in the Mishnah are to be attributed
to R. Meir - [but they do not reflect the individual opinions of
R. Meir, but rather] represent the views of R. Akiva." The tra-
dition in the Babylonian Talmud has been further expanded
to include the other canonical tannaitic works familiar to and
accepted by the Babylonian Talmud: Sifra, Sifre, and Tosefta
(for the relation of these works to the extant tannaitic collec-
tions known by these names, see above). It is likely that the
primary intention of this expanded tradition is to extend R.
Johanan's halakhic judgment concerning the presumed au-
thority of anonymous traditions found in the Mishnah, to
anonymous traditions found in these other works, by ascrib-
ing them to other well-known disciples of R. Akiva, who are
all presumed to have transmitted their masters views. On the
other hand, the historical reliability and significance of the as-
cription of anonymous passages in the Tosefta to R. Nehemiah
remain highly questionable.

Nevertheless, on the basis of this relatively late Babylo-
nian tradition, some scholars have posited the existence of
a proto-Tosefta already in the days of R. Akiva and his stu-
dents. There is, however, no direct evidence for the existence
of such a work in this early period. Moreover, the terms tose-
fet, tosefta, baraita appear only in the amoraic literary stratum
of talmudic literature, after the acceptance and dissemination
of the Mishnah of R. Judah ha-Nasi. Neither these terms nor
any other comparable terms are mentioned anywhere in tan-
naitic literature. The phenomenon of multiple literary levels
within the Mishnah, and the habit of later tannaim to "add"
comments to the traditions which they received from their
teachers, should not be confused with the distinction between
an accepted and official canon of select and authoritative tra-
ditions (e.g., the Mishnah of R. Judah ha-Nasi) and an extra-
canonical "supplementary" tradition (tosefet, baraita) , or col-
lection of traditions (Tosefta).

Editions and Commentaries

The Tosefta was first published together with the halakhot of
Isaac Alfasi in Venice in 1521, and it can still be found at the
end of most standard editions of the Babylonian Talmud af-
ter the halakhot of Alfasi. There are no commentaries to the
Tosefta which derive from the early period of the *rishonim,
though many passages from the Tosefta are cited and ex-
plained in their other commentaries, e.g., Maimonides' com-
mentary to the Mishnah, and especially the commentary of R.
Samson ben Abraham to Mishnah Tohorot. During the period
of the *aharonim a number of commentaries were written, the
most important of which is the comprehensive commentary
covering all of the Tosefta, Hasdei David, composed by R.
David Pardo in the 18 th century. Two volumes (covering four

orders of the Tosefta) were published in his lifetime - Zerdim-
Nashim (Leghorn, 1777) and Nezikin (Leghorn, 1790). A third
volume, containing his commentary to Kodashim, was pub-
lished in Jerusalem in 1890, and the final volumes, contain-
ing his most important commentary to Tohorot, were only
rediscovered and published in Jerusalem in 1970. The com-
mentaries and emendations of Elijah Gaon of Vilna to Tosefta
Tohorot are also very important. Toward the end of the 19 th
century, M.S. Zuckermandel published an edition (1881) of the
Tosefta, based mainly on the Erfurt manuscript (which ends
in Zevahim, the rest being based on the Vienna manuscript),
and including variant readings. While this work constituted
a great step forward at the time, it suffers from two problems.
First, the transcription of the Erfurt manuscript is not always
accurate. More significantly, however, is the choice of the Er-
furt manuscript as the basis of his edition. The Erfurt manu-
script of the Tosefta does not always transmit the text of the
Tosefta in its original form; rather it often reflects medieval
emendations of the Tosefta, in order to bring its text in line
with parallel versions of a tradition found in the Babylonian
Talmud, the Jerusalem Talmud, or even the Midrashei Hala-
khah. A new critical edition of the Tosefta based on the su-
perior Vienna manuscript, including variae lectiones, notes,
and a detailed commentary (Tosefta ki-Feshuta) - the pinna-
cle of modern Tosefta studies - covering over half the Tosefta
was published by S. Lieberman (Zerdim, 1955; Moed, 1961-2;
Nashim, 1967, 1973; the first half of Nezikin, 1988). The com-
plete texts of all known manuscripts and Genizah fragments
of the Tosefta are available on the website of Bar-Ilan Univer-
sity (http://www.biu.ac.il/js/tosefta/).

bibliography: Annotated bibliography, up to 1953, by M.I.
Abramski, in: ks, 29 (1953/54), 149-61; H. Albeck, Mehkarim bi-Ve-
raita ve-Tosefta (1944); idem, Mavo la-Talmudim, 1 (1969), 51-78;
Epstein, Tanna'im, 241-69; B. de Vries, in: Tarbiz, 27 (1958), 1481!.;
Strack-Stemberger, Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash (1996),
149-63; A. Goldberg, in: The Literature of the Sages, ed. S. Safrai (1987),
283-302; idem, Tosefta Bava Kamma, A Structural and Analytical
Commentary (2001); S. Friedman, Tosefta Atiqta (2002); idem, in:
S. Friedman (ed.), Saul Lieberman Memorial Volume (1993), 119-64;
idem, "Baraitot? in: D. Boyarin et al. (eds. ),Ateret le-Haim (2000); H.
Fox and T. Meacham (eds.), Introducing the Tosefta (1999); Y. Elman,
Authority and Tradition - Toseftan Baraitot in Talmudic Babylonian
(1994); J. Hauptman, in: S.J.D. Cohen (ed.), The Synoptic Problem in
Rabbinic Literature (2000), 13-34; N. Braverman, in: Mehkarim be-
Lashon, 5-6 (1992), 153-70; idem, in: Proceedings of the Ninth World
Congress of Jewish Studies, 4:1 (1986), 31-38.

[Stephen G. Wald (2 nd ed.)]

TOUATI, CHARLES (1925-2003), French rabbi, teacher.
The scion of a rabbinical family, he studied at the University
of Algiers, then in Paris at the Sorbonne, the Ecole pratique
des hautes etudes, the Ecole Rabbinique, and later at Dropsie
College, Philadelphia, under Solomon Zeitlin. He was for a few
months the rabbi of the Ohel Avraham Community in Paris;
later professor at the Ecole Rabbinique until the beginning of
the 1980s and at the Ecole pratique des hautes etudes, section

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOULOUSE

des sciences religieuses (1967-71), as a "charge de conferences,"
1972-93, and as a "directeur detudes"; director of the *Revue
des etudes juives with Gerard Nahon (1981-1996). He was hon-
ored with the title of chief rabbi ("grand rabbin") but was hin-
dered by poor health from succeeding Jacob * Kaplan as chief
rabbi of France. A specialist on medieval Jewish theology and
philosophy as well as talmudic literature, he is mainly known
for his annotated translation of Gersonides, Les Guerres du
Seigneur. Livres 11 1 etiv (1968); for the first thorough and mo-
mentous synthesis on Lapensee theologique et philosophique de
Gersonide (1973, repr. 1992); and for his French translation of
the Kuzari of Judah ha-Levi (1994). Some of his articles were
collected in Prophetes, talmudistes, philosophes (1990).

bibliography: G. Freudenthal, J.P. Rothschild, G. Dahan
(eds.), Torah et science... Etudes offertes a Charles Touati (2001);
"Hommage a Charles Touati (1925-2003)," in: rej, 162 (2003), 343-56;
G. Nahon, "Hommage aii grand rabbin Charles Touati (1925-2003),
rej, 164(2005), 539-46.

[Jean-Pierre Rothschild (2 nd ed.)]

TOUL, city in the department Meurthe-et- Moselle in N.E.
France. The earliest reference to the existence of Jews there
is The Life of St. Mansuy y written in 974, in which the author
mentions a Jewish physician in Toul. The tosafists *Eliezer of
Toul, who died before 1234, and his brother Abraham, disciple
of Isaac the Elder of Dampierre, lived in the town. From the
Middle Ages until the French Revolution there is no evidence
of Jews living there legally, although some Jews were in the re-
gion during various periods, and in 1711 a few even settled in
the town temporarily. In 1791 an important community was
formed and in 1808 one of its members was a delegate to the
Napoleonic *Sanhedrin. The synagogue was built in 1819, and
for a time after 1850, Toul was the seat of a rabbinate. In 1905
there were not more than 40-50 Jews in the community. In
1970 there were 15 Jews residing in the city.

bibliography: Gross, Gal Jud, 211-2; B. Blumenkranz,/w(/5

et Chretiens... (i960), 546°.

[Gilbert Cahen]

TOULON, port in the Var department, S.E. France. In the sec-
ond half of the 13 th century the Jews made up an appreciable
proportion of the population of Toulon: at a general municipal
assembly held in 1285, 11 of the 155 participants were Jews. They
shared the same rights and duties as the other citizens. The
community came to a brutal end on the night of April 12/13,
1348 (Palm Sunday), when the Jewish street, "Camera de la
Juteria," was attacked, the houses pillaged, and 40 Jews slain;
this attack was probably related to the *Black Death persecu-
tions. Faced with an enquiry set up by a judge from Hyeres,
the assailants fled; however, they were soon pardoned. After
this date, in addition to a few converted Jews, there were in
Toulon only individual Jews who stayed for short periods;
one such man was Vitalis of Marseilles, who was engaged as
a town physician in 1440. The medieval Jewish street corre-
sponded largely to the present Rue des Tombades. In 1760 the

merchants' guild of Toulon successfully prevented the arrival
of Jewish merchants. On being granted rights of citizenship, a
Jew from *Avignon requested permission to settle in Toulon.
The community formed in the 19 th century remained small.
At the beginning of World War 11 around 50 Jewish families
lived in the town, two-thirds of them refugees from *Alsace.
In 1971 there were some 2,000 Jews in Toulon, the majority
being from North Africa. An estimated 2,000 Jewish families
lived there at the outset of the 21 st century. In 2004 the com-
munity center with its synagogue was firebombed in an an-
tisemitic incident.

bibliography: Gross, Gal Jud, 2i2f.; A. Cremieux, in: rej,

89 (1930), 33-72; 90 (1931), 43-64; L. Mangin, Toulon, 1 (1901), index;

G. Le Bellegou-Beguin, VEvolution des Institutions Municipales Tou-

lonnaises (1959), 123.

[Bernhard Blumenkranz]

TOULOUSE (Heb. WlVlU), capital of the department of
Haute- Garonne, in southern France. According to a leg-
endary tradition, there were Jews in Toulouse as early as the
eighth century, when as a result of their disloyalty to the ruling
Franks, they were ordered to choose a member of the com-
munity every year to be publicly slapped in the face on Good
Friday. This tradition also mentions a council held in Tou-
louse in 883 in the presence of the Jews to discuss their com-
plaint against this custom. There is definite evidence of this
practice, however, from 1020 onward. During the late 11 th and
early 12 th centuries, the custom was waived on payment of a
high fee. The Jews were also compelled to provide the cathe-
dral with 44 pounds of wax and the bishop with incense. The
Jewish quarter, whose center was the Rue Juzaygas or Joutx-
Aigues, lay around the square of the Carmelites. The Jewish
cemetery was at first situated near the Chateau Narbonnais.
When the king took possession of it in 1281, the Jews acquired
a field near the Porte de Montoulieu, on the site of the pres-
ent Grand Rond, for a new cemetery. Communal institutions
in this period included a hospital, which was destroyed in the
war of the *Albigenses. The importance of the Jewish popu-
lation can be deduced from the number of houses owned by
the Jews. Commerce and moneylending are mentioned as
the principal occupations of the Jews in Toulouse in this pe-
riod. In 1209 they were excluded from holding public office,
though they remained free to dispose of their real estate and
often possessed the rights of ownership over land held by in-
dividuals or religious institutions, particularly the Templars.
*Alphonse of Poitiers imposed a large tax on the Jews of Tou-
louse, as well as on the other Jews under his authority, its pay-
ment being enforced by coercive measures. Toward the end of
the 13 th century, there was debate between the royal officers
and the count over the judicial and fiscal jurisdiction of many
Jews.

At the time of the expulsion of the Jews from the king-
dom of France in 1306, the community of Toulouse was still
numerous and economically important, as shown by the num-
ber and value of the confiscated properties mentioned in the

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOURAINE

extant auction documents. They included several "operato-
ria," perhaps workshops or commercial premises. The new
community formed after the readmission of the Jews in 1315
also appears to have been of considerable size, and even at-
tracted Jews from other localities who had not been among
the exiles of 1306. There is mention of Baruch "the Teuton,"
for example, who came from Germany. In 1320, the Jews in
Toulouse became victims of the * Pastoureaux persecutions,
despite efforts by government authorities to protect them; the
houses in the Jewish quarter were looted, and their inhabitants
were massacred if they refused immediate baptism. The ^In-
quisition took precautions that these forced converts should
not return to Judaism. As a result, the community practically
ceased to exist well before the next expulsion of the Jews of
the kingdom in 1322.

A new community was organized in Toulouse after the re-
admission of Jews in 1359. Only about 15 families settled in the
city. Although they established themselves in the former Jewish
quarter of Joutx-Aigues, their situation and economic activity
had radically changed. They no longer owned land, rented the
houses which they occupied, and generally limited themselves
to moneylending. They were taken by surprise by the publica-
tion of the "final" expulsion order of 1394. A short time earlier,
butchers' regulations had laid down the procedure for ritual
slaughter with the assumption that the community would re-
main in Toulouse for along time. There is no definite informa-
tion available on medieval Jewish scholars in Toulouse.

During the 17 th century a group of *Marranos attempted
to establish themselves in Toulouse. They were tried by an In-
quisition tribunal in 1685 and received severe penalties. From
the end of the century, Jewish merchants, mainly from *Com-
tat Venaissin, were authorized to trade in Toulouse four times
a year. Beginning in the second half of the 18 th century, several
of them endeavored to settle permanently in the city. There
were about 80 Marranos in 1790. After the Reign of Terror,
the municipality allowed them to use a former church (the
Church of the Penitents) as a synagogue. They do not appear
to have taken possession of it, however, because in 1806, they
were still without a synagogue. At about that time, they ob-
tained a concession for exclusive use of the cemetery, which
until the Revolution had been used for the burial of both Prot-
estants and Jews. There were then 105 Jews in Toulouse, and
their numbers increased very slowly. However, from the be-
ginning of the 20 th century, many Jewish students from Poland
and the Balkans were attracted by the opportunity to study at
the University of Toulouse.

[Bernhard Blumenkranz / David Weinberg (2 nd ed.)]

Holocaust Period

With the flight of population from the northern zone in June
1940 after the Nazi defeat of France, many Jews settled in
Toulouse. As a result, it rapidly became one of the principal
centers for Jewish life and resistance in the unoccupied zone.
Toulouse was in effect the capital of the southwest of France.
Here a considerable number of Jews found refuge and a range

of important organizations was set up, including children's
homes and agricultural schools. Toulouse was also an impor-
tant stopover for Jews seeking to escape to Spain. The Organi-
sation Juive de Combat was created at Toulouse and its leaders
would often meet there. In August 1942, when 1,525 foreign-
born Jews from the region were "regrouped" for deportation,
the archbishop of Toulouse, Msgr. Saliege, issued a vigorous
protest, which was read publicly in all the churches of the
diocese. Following the German occupation of all of France
(November 1942), the area around Toulouse saw increased
Jewish resistance, including acts of sabotage, the formation of
fighting groups, the hiding of children and their transporta-
tion to safe havens, and stepped- up efforts to ferry Jews across
the border to Spain en route to Palestine or England. Many
men, women, and children fell victim to the Nazis and their
French collaborators, however, and were tortured to death or
deported to Auschwitz.

Contemporary Jewry

Many Holocaust survivors chose to remain in the city after the
liberation. As a result, the postwar community gained greater
importance than it had enjoyed prior to the war. In i960 there
were over 3,000 members of the community. Thanks largely
to the arrival of Jews from North Africa, the Toulouse com-
munity became one of the most important Jewish centers in
France. In 1987, it had a Jewish population of 12,000. The Jews
of Toulouse maintain a full range of communal institutions,
including three synagogues, kosher butchers and restaurants,
and a community center. Toulouse is also the center for the
regional consistory.

[Georges Levitte / David Weinberg (2 nd ed.)]

bibliography: Gross, Gal Jud, 2i3f.; B. Blumenkranz, Juifs
et chretiens... (i960), index; G. Saige, Juifs du Languedoc (1881), in-
dex; Y. Dossat, in: Archives Juives, 6 (1969/70), 4f., 32f.; E. Szapiro,
in: rej, 125 (1966), 395-9; J.H. Mundy, Liberty and Political Power in
Toulouse (1954), index; J. Coppolani, Toulouse (Fr., 1954), 44-50; A.
Thomas, in: Annales du Midi, 7 (1895), 439-42; C. Douais, in: Bulletin
de la societe archeologique du Midi, 2 (1888), 118 f.; P. Wolff, Commerce
et marchands a Toulouse (1954), index; Z. Szajkowski, Franco-Judaica
(1962), index; idem, Analytical Franco-Jewish Gazetteer (1966), 195 f.;
idem, in: jqr, 41 (1958/59), 278-81. add. bibliography: Guide
pratique de judaisme (1987), 39.

TOURAINE, former province of W. central France whose
territory corresponded to the present department of Indre-
et-Loire. The earliest information on the presence of Jews
in Touraine is from about 570. Gregory of Tours mentions
their presence in Civray and in Tours itself. Jews were subse-
quently to be found in several places in Touraine, more spe-
cifically in Loches, Amboise, and Chinon. During the second
half of the 11 th century, Philip 1, king of France, held several
rights in Touraine, including the right to one half of the ten-
ure paid by the Jews of Tours. An agreement of 1215 between
the Abbey of St. Martin of Tours and the squire of Loches
stipulated that not a single Jew would be authorized to reside
in the locality of Longueil. The common law of Touraine of

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOURO COLLEGE

1246 declared that upon his request a Jew of the feudal lord
or the king would be judged by that lord or the king because
they were the actual owners of his belongings. In an entry for
the year 1306 on the subject of the expulsion of the Jews from
France, the "Abridged Chronicle of Touraine" relates that the
Jews left Touraine on August 26. They returned in 1315, and
in 1321 were among the first victims of the accusation that the
Jews had poisoned the wells in collaboration with the lepers.
It appears that with the next return of the Jews to France in
1359, none settled in Touraine.

bibliography: L. Lazard, in: rej, 17 (1888), 210-34; A.
Salmon (ed.), Recueil des Chroniques de Touraine (1854), 198.

[Bernhard Blumenkranz]

TOUREL, JENNIE (1910-1973), mezzo-soprano. Born in
Montreal, Canada, Jennie Tourel was educated in Russia, Swit-
zerland, and France, where she studied with Anna El-Tour,
whose name she transposed to form her own stage name. In
1933 she began her career in the Opera Comique, Paris, and
in 1940 settled in the United States. She made her U.S. debut
with the New York Philharmonic under Toscanini. In 1944 she
joined the Metropolitan Opera. Her best-known non-operatic
performance was the rendition of the vocal solo in Leonard
^Bernstein's Jeremiah symphony at its premiere performance
(1944); she also became known through appearances in con-
certs and for recording. She gave annual courses at the Rubin
Academy of Music, Jerusalem.

TOURO, JUDAH (1775-1854), U.S. philanthropist. Born in
Newport, Rhode Island, to Isaac Touro (d. 1873), the hazzan
of the Yeshuat Israel synagogue, and his wife Reyna, sister
of the merchant Moses Michael Hays, Touro had a troubled
childhood. The Revolutionary War shattered the prosperity
and unity of the Jewish community of Newport. Isaac Touro,
a Tory, went with the British to New York City where he lived
on a military dole and, in 1782, to Jamaica, British West Indies,
where he officiated for a brief time until his death the follow-
ing year. Touro's widowed mother returned to New England
with her four children and took up residence with her wealthy
brother. Judah was trained in his uncles mercantile business,
and undertook a number of voyages in his uncles interest.

In 1801 Touro left Boston for New Orleans. Legend at-
tributes this departure to his uncles refusal to permit him to
marry a cousin, but there is no sure evidence of this. Touro's
choice of New Orleans as a center of commercial operations
was a fortunate one. Still in Spanish hands at the time of his
arrival, the port was soon transferred to France and then sold
by Napoleon to the United States as part of the Louisiana Pur-
chase. The population and trade of the city grew in geometric
proportions, and Touro and other early merchants prospered
greatly. Touro served as a civilian volunteer in the American
army at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815 and was severely
wounded. His life was saved by his close friend, the Virginia
merchant Rezin Shepherd, who was ultimately an executor
and residual legatee of Touro's estate. After his recovery Touro

took no part in the civic or social life of New Orleans, in con-
tradistinction to an active interest during prior years; some
reports indicate that the wound, which left him with a limp
and damaged his sexual organs, was the reason for his with-
drawal from social relations with any but a few close friends.
His business activities continued unabated, however, and his
holdings increased. He was a commission merchant who ac-
cepted shipments on consignment from firms in the North,
which were then sold for the benefit of the owners. He also
invested in steamships and other vessels. At no time, however,
was he a major mercantile power in New Orleans. He accumu-
lated his fortune through prudent investments in real estate
and through his modest standard of living. He said to Rabbi
Isaac *Leeser that he had "saved a fortune by strict economy,
while others had spent one by their liberal expenditures." He
was not a speculator like many of his New Orleans colleagues,
and, as a result, easily weathered the periodic panics and de-
pressions which drove many other New Orleans business
houses into bankruptcy.

Touro, a reticent, shy, and even peculiar man, took no
interest in Jewish matters until late in life; he made only a
modest contribution to the first New Orleans congregation,
which was founded in 1827, but did not join as a member. The
first person with a sense of Jewish responsibility to penetrate
his shell of indifference and reserve was Gershom Kursheedt,
who arrived in New Orleans in 1839 or 1840, and ultimately
succeeded in arousing Touro's feelings of Jewish loyalty. He,
and possibly Rezin Shepherd, persuaded Touro to purchase
an old Episcopal church for the benefit of a new congregation
which Kursheedt organized, Nefutzoth Yehudah, and to pay
for its conversion into a synagogue. Kursheedt was also re-
sponsible for Touro's bequests, in his famous will, to a host of
Jewish institutions. Among these were $108,000 to congrega-
tions and societies in New Orleans, and to the Jewish hospital
which Touro had founded and which has ever since carried his
name; $10,000 for the upkeep of the synagogue and cemetery
in Newport, his old home; $60,000 for the relief of the poor
in Erez Israel to be used at the discretion of Sir Moses Monte -
fiore; a total of $143,000 to congregations, schools, and other
Jewish institutions in 17 cities throughout the land. Gifts to
non-Jewish institutions in New Orleans, Boston, and Newport
totaled $153,000. No American Jew had ever given so much
to so many agencies and causes; nor had any non-Jew done
so much in such varied ways.

bibliography: L. Huhner, The Life of Judah Touro (1946);
M.A. Gutstein, A. Lopez and Judah Touro (1939); idem, The Touro
Family in Newport (1935), 23-38; idem, The Story of the Jews of New-
port (1936), index; J.B. Feibelman, New Orleans Jewish Community
(1941), 77-78; M.J. Kohler, in: A.J. Karp (ed.), The Jewish Experience
in America, 2 (1969), 158-76.

[Bertram Wallace Korn]

TOURO COLLEGE, one of the largest institutions of higher
and professional education under Jewish sponsorship. Touro
has grown from a small liberal arts college consisting of 35

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOUROFF, NISSAN

freshmen in 1971, situated in midtown Manhattan, to an in-
ternational university of over 23,000 students.

It was founded and was under the leadership of Dr. Ber-
nard Lander. The guiding mission of the school can be noted
from its being named for Judah and Isaac Touro, who both
exemplified in colonial and early America a love for the dem-
ocratic ethos and their Jewish heritage.

Touro's vision is to serve the larger community in keep-
ing with the Judaic commitment to social justice, intellectual
pursuit, and service to humanity.

Under Dr. Landers guidance Touro's programs had a
two-pronged thrust. One is to serve the Jewish community by
developing a cadre of committed and concerned Jewish youth
in the United States by giving them a higher and professional
education with a curriculum based on Jewish values. Secondly,
Touro's programs also serve the educational needs of the total
society, non-sectarian as well as Jewish. One of Touro's mottos
has been "where there is a need, Touro reaches out to help."
Touro does not wait for the student to come to the school but
brings the school to the student.

Touro College has satellites on three continents. In the
United States Touro has several campuses in three states
(New York, California, and Nevada), with another planned
for Florida in 2006.

Based in New York are separate programs for men and
women that meet on alternate days. The Lander College of
Arts and Sciences offers a traditional yeshivah program com-
bined with a full secular college curriculum, which is offered
at the Men's Division in Kew Garden Hills, Queens. A Men's
Division enabling yeshivah students from other institutions
desiring to study for a college degree in secular studies was
opened in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn in 1977. A Women's
Division was initiated in Manhattan in 1974 with a dual Judaic
and secular studies curriculum. A parallel Women's Division
was opened in Flatbush in 1979. These programs offer broad
appeal to Orthodox Jews and allow them to attend their re-
spective religious institutions and earn a higher or professional
degree simultaneously.

The Touro School of Lifelong Education (a mentoring
program opened in 1988) provides an opportunity for hasidic
and yeshivah students to be the first in their families to earn a
higher and/or professional degree. An affiliate Machon LaPar-
nassa allows students to earn an associates degree. A similar
undergraduate program opened in Los Angeles in 2005 and
one in Miami is scheduled for 2006.

Touro also has an affiliate full time yeshivah program,
Ohr Hachaim (1984), and a yeshivah high school for boys, Ye-
sodai Yeshurun in Queens (1994).

The Graduate School of Jewish Studies was opened in
1979 offering a master's degree.

Touro has opened several professional divisions. A di-
vision of Health Sciences was opened in 1972 offering a phy-
sicians assistant (pa) program, and added a medical records
administration program in 1980. The Touro Center for Bio-
Medical Education in Long Island offers a ms-md degree in

conjunction with the Technion Medical School in Israel (1983).
A physical therapy (pt) program was added in 1984 and an
occupational therapy (ot) program in 1996. A graduate pro-
gram in speech language pathology began in 2000.

In 1997 Touro opened a Touro University College of Os-
teopathic Medicine, currently located in Vallejo, California,
with a branch campus in Las Vegas in 2004. A similar school
is planned for 2006 in New York State.

A school of nursing opened in 2005 in the Boro Park sec-
tion of Brooklyn creating the opportunity for hasidic women
to attain a career.

The Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law School was founded as a di-
vision of Touro in 1980 and is situated in Huntington, Long
Island. In addition to the general law curriculum it has an In-
stitute of Jewish Law.

Touro has also been a leader in innovative pedagogy es-
tablishing Touro University International based in Las Alami-
tos, California in 1999, offering graduate degrees in business
over the Internet. The Graduate School of Education and Tech-
nology also offers many online courses as do the undergradu-
ate departments in the Lander colleges.

Touro's international programs teach Jewish studies and
business courses. Campus sites include Moscow, Berlin, and
Jerusalem. Programs are planned for other sites, such as Rome
and Budapest.

The Touro campus in Givat Shaul Jerusalem offers a pro-
gram for Americans in Israel and an affiliate Machon Lander
for Israelis. There is also a division of the Touro Graduate
School for Jewish Studies in Israel.

The School for General Studies (1974) and the Division
of New Americans (1985) began particularly to aid many ref-
ugees coming from the former Soviet Union. The latter divi-
sion was renamed the School of Career and Applied Studies
and was eventually merged with the School of General Studies.
These divisions, which are community based and have sev-
eral campuses in New York, have over 6,000 students from
all ethnic backgrounds matriculating for the associate and

bachelor's degrees.

[Ted Lauer (2 nd ed.)]

TOUROFF, NISSAN (1877-1953), educator and author. Born
in Nesvizh near Minsk, Touroff became principal of the Girls
School in Jaffa in 1907 and later principal of the Levinsky
Teachers Seminary for Girls. During World War 1 he headed
the important Education Committee (Va'ad ha-Hinnukh)
which was responsible for Jewish education in Palestine. He
also edited, briefly, the pedagogical journal Ha-Hinnukh and
the daily Haaretz. He immigrated to the United States in 1919
and worked in an editorial capacity for the Stybel Publishing
Company. He was one of the founders of the Hebrew Teach-
ers College (now Hebrew College) of Boston in 1921 and its
first dean. He also founded the educational magazine Shevilei
ha-Hinnukh in 1925. In 1926 he left Boston and became profes-
sor of education and Hebrew literature at the Jewish Institute
of Religion in New York (1926-32). Touroff s major themes in

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOVEY, D BLOISSIERS

education were nationalism and Zionism, Hebrew language
and literature, the utilization of modern psychological in-
sights in teaching, and the attention to aesthetics in the life of
the school. His main Hebrew works in the fields of education
and psychology include Ha-Psychologyah be-Yameinu (2 vols.,
1939-41), Be-Yodeim u-ve-Lo Yodeim (1946), a collection of
essays on problems of culture and education under the title
Hadrakhot (1947), and Bedyot ha-Hitabbedut (1953).

bibliography: E. Silberschlag and Y. Twersky (eds.),

Sefer Touroff (1938), 7-114 (incl. bibl.); M. Ribalow, Ketavim u-Me-

gillot (1942), 246-61; A. Epstein, Soferim Ivriyyim ba-Amerikah

(1952), 403-12; Z. Scharfstein, Gedolei Hinnukh be-Ammenu (1964),

208-25.

[Eisig Silberschlag]

TOURS, city in the Indre-et-Loire department, central France.
Jewish settlement in Tours dates from at least 570, one of the
earliest recorded indications of Jewish life in France. In 1171
a notable of the community of Tours intervened in favor of
the Jews of * Blois, who were persecuted following an accusa-
tion of ritual murder. A council held in Tours in 1236 forbade
the Crusaders - as well as every other Christian - to conspire
against the lives, health, and property of the Jews. Those found
guilty of such a crime would be expelled from the ranks of the
Crusaders. A subsequent Council of Tours (1239), however,
excluded the Jews from testifying in lawsuits. During this pe-
riod, Jews lived in a quarter known as the "Juiverie," which was
situated between the old bridge and the Rue de la Caserne and
consisted of at least 20 houses. They owned a synagogue and
leased from the archbishop a plot of land in the Saint- Vincent
parish (near the present Rue du Cygne and de Luce) to use as a
cemetery. The Jews of Tours were authorized to bury the Jew-
ish dead, not only of their community, but of any other local-
ity. In addition, a plot of agricultural land and a vineyard were
worked by Jews. Expelled from France along with other Jews
in 1306, individual Jews from Tours returned in 1315. They also
suffered in the persecutions of 1321, which were later justified
as punishment for their supposed collusion with the lepers.
The community seems to have declined precipitously after-
wards, for in 1359 the municipality ordered the final destruc-
tion of the Jewish cemetery. A number of scholars are known
to have lived in Tours during the Middle Ages: an individual
named Solomon corresponded with * Rashi; someone named
David lived there toward the middle of the 13 th century, as did
a Joseph b. Elijah toward the close of the 13 th century. Their
works, however, have not survived. Before World War 11 there
were fewer than 100 Jews in Tours. There is little information
on the community during the Holocaust and in the immedi-
ate postwar period. In the early 1970s, as a result of the arrival
of North African Jews, there were about 550 Jews. In the early
21 st century, the community maintained a synagogue, a com-
munity center, and a talmud tor ah.

bibliography: Gross, Gal Jud, 2i6fF.; L. Lazard, in: rej,
17 (1888), 210-34; L- de Grandmaison, ibid., 18 (1889), 262-75; idem
(ed.), Cartulaire de VArcheveche de Tours, 2 (1904), 84-87; S. Gray-
zel, Church and the Jews... (1966 2 ), index; Z. Szajkowski, Analytical

Franco-Jewish Gazetteer (1966), 204; B. Blumenkranz, in: Archives
Juives, 6 (1969-70), 36-38. add. bibliography: Jewish Travel
Guide (2002), 91.

[Bernhard Blumenkranz / David Weinberg (2 nd ed.)]

°TOUSSENEL, ALPHONSE (1803-1885), French antisemitic
publicist and disciple of *Fourier. From 1839 to 1843 Toussenel
coedited Phalange and later participated in the foundation of
the Democratic pacifique, both Fourierist publications. His
two-volume work, Les Juifs, wis de lepoque; histoire de lafeo-
dalite financier e, was one of the most resounding attacks on
the Jews published in France (1845) before the appearance of
*Drumont's La France Juive. An even more virulent second
edition of Les Juifs... was published in 1847 and reprinted in
1886 and 1888. To some degree Toussenel influenced Drumont.
He also helped to inspire a conservative, rural antisemitism,
which later found its political expression in V*Action Francaisc.
Toussenel did not make a formal attack on the Jewish people
as such, but tried rather to show what he believed was com-
monly meant by "Jew". He wrote, "I wish to point out to the
reader that this word will generally be used here in the popu-
lar sense of Jew: banker, usurer."

Toussenel's antisemitism was not limited to his concep-
tion of a Jew-dominated 19 th century. Reaching back into his-
tory, he affirmed his sympathy for the persecutions inflicted
upon the Jews by the Romans, Christians, and Muslims. Add-
ing another dimension to his antisemitism, Toussenel also
declared, "Who says Jew says Protestant." Accordingly, the
Protestant nations of Europe - the English, the Dutch, and
the Swiss, in particular - were, like the Jews, "merchants and
birds of prey." Toussenel's embittered antisemitic, anti-foreign,
and anti- Protestant tirades later provided ample inspiration
for the anti-Dreyfusards.

bibliography: R.F. Byrnes, Antisemitism in Modern France,
1 (1950), index; E. Silberner, Sozialisten zur Judenfrage (1962), index;
L. Thomas, A Iphonse- To ussenel, socialistenational, antisemite (1941);
Z. Szajkowski, in: jss, 9 (1947), 33-47

°TOVEY, D'BLOISSIERS (1692-1745), English clergyman.
He wrote the first comprehensive history of the Jews of Eng-
land, Anglia Judaica or the History and Antiquities of the Jews
in England, collected from all our historians, both printed and
manuscript, as also from the records in the Tower, and other
publick repositories (1738). Though concentrating on the me-
dieval period, the work contains a section on the resettlement
and on the English Jews of his own day. It shows appreciation
of the magnitude of royal exploitation of the Jews in the Mid-
dle Ages and a healthy skepticism of ritual murder charges.
It is largely based on the Short Demurrer... (1656) of William
*Prynne. Tovey estimated that in 1738 there were about 6,000
Jews in England and noted that, at the time, no settled Jewish
communities existed outside of London.

bibliography: S. Levy, in: jhset, 6 (1912), 9. add. bibli-
ography: odnb online; Endelman, Jews in Georgian England, in-
dex; Katz, England, index.

[Vivian David Lipman]

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TOWNE, CHARLES

TOWNE, CHARLES (1781-1854), English painter of ani-
mals and landscapes. Born in London, Towne's work such
as The Boat Builders (1811) and Cattle Fair (1826) resemble
the productions of the Norwich School and show a strong
feeling for English country life of the period. From the year
1806 Towne exhibited at the Royal Academy. Another Eng-
lish painter of animals, who was not Jewish, was also named
Charles Towne (or Town). He lived from 1763 to 1840, and
is known as "Charles Towner the Elder" to distinguish him
from this artist.

TOZ (abbr. from the initials of Towarzystwo Ochrony Zd-
rowia Ludnosci Zydowskiej, "Society for the Safeguarding of
the Health of the Jewish Population"), Jewish welfare organi-
zation officially founded in Poland in 1921. It was connected
with the *oze society, established in St. Petersburg in 1912,
which engaged in medical activities in the former territories
of Russia and was later integrated into a common framework
in Poland, toz began activities in a few regions only, but from
1923 it encompassed all areas in the state. World War 1 and
its consequences, especially in the eastern regions, where the
Jews had also suffered from pogroms, brought the society up
against a number of urgent problems. It had to combat the
contagious diseases which developed into epidemics and were
responsible for a high death rate among the Jewish popula-
tion in general and children in particular. On the other hand,
the hostilities along the borders until the Peace of Riga (1921)
brought chaos to the state and municipal medical services and
prevented the impoverished Jewish masses from benefiting
from the sick funds for organized workers.

Although toz considered its principal role in the sphere
of preventive medicine, current needs compelled it to con-
centrate its main efforts in preventing the spread of skin and
eye diseases (ringworm and trachoma) and tuberculosis by
establishing clinics, X-ray departments, pharmacies, conva-
lescent homes, etc. toz published three periodicals: Folksge-
zund (for the masses), Gezund (for schoolchildren), and Sot-
siale Meditisin (a scientific journal). Among its many services
the psycho -hygienic assistance which toz offered in treating
the mentally retarded or those with physical afflictions was
of great importance.

In addition to its institutions, toz also supported num-
bers of Jewish hospitals with its advisory services and assis-
tance funds. In 1939 it was responsible for over 400 medical
and sanitary institutions in 50 towns. Annual membership
fees were paid by 15,000 supporters, and about 1,000 people,
including doctors, nurses, dentists, teachers, and medical as-
sistants, were on its employment roll. Additional incomes were
derived from support by the 'American Jewish Joint Distri-
bution Committee and the funds raised by the oze abroad.
Throughout the existence of toz, its central committee was
presided over by the physician and public worker Gershon
*Lewin, formerly director of the Jewish hospital in Warsaw.
Leon Wulman also played an outstanding role in the activi-
ties of the organization in his capacity of general secretary.

During World War 11 the institutions of toz attempted to as-
sist victims of famine and epidemics until 1942, when all its
branches were closed down on the order of the German oc-
cupation authorities in Poland.

bibliography: Y. Gruenbaum (ed.), eg, 1 (1953), 582-5: A.
Lewinson, Toledot Yehudei Varshah (1953), 353-5; H.M. Rabinowicz,
The Legacy of Polish Jewry (1965), 175-6.

[Moshe Landau]

TRABOT (Trabotto), Italian family of French origin which
flourished from the 14 th to the 17 th centuries. The name is most
probably derived from Trevoux, once Trevou, a town located
in Burgundy, from where the Jews were definitely expelled in
1488. The most important members of the family are perez
trabot (i4 th -i5 th centuries), also known as Zarfati or Cat-
alani which seems to indicate that he went from France to
Catalonia in 1395, then to Italy. He composed Makrei Darde-
kei y a Hebrew-French and Hebrew-Catalan dictionary (Na-
ples, 1488). jehiel trabot, rabbi at Pesaro in the early 16 th
century, was a grandson of R. Joseph * Colon, whose own fa-
ther was known as Solomon Trabot. Jehiel is mentioned in
Nahalat Yaakov, Jacob Alpron's collection of responsa. His son
azriel (d. 1569), rabbi in Florence and Ascoli in the second
half of the 16 th century, was noted for his responsa. Follow-
ing the bull of February 1569 of Pope *Pius v, decreeing that
all Jews in the Papal States except Rome and Ancona should
be driven out, the congregation of Ascoli, with Azriel at its
head, found refuge at Pesaro. There Azriel was entrusted with
the valuable Ark. He died in Pesaro in July of the same year.
His son jehiel was rabbi at Pesaro and Ferrara. azriel, son
of Jehiel, was rabbi of Ascoli at the beginning of the 17 th cen-
tury. He composed a list of rabbis (cf. rej, 4 (1882), 208-25)
and several responsa. nethanel ben benjamin ben az-
riel (1576-1653), was rabbi of Modena. Several of his rulings
are extant. Especially important is his responsum on reform
of music in the synagogue. In 1711, rafael trabotto was
given permission by the Austrian authorities to engage in
moneylending in Mantua.

bibliography: Gross, Gal Jud, 219-21; Mortara, Indice,
65-66; Ghirondi-Neppi, 179, 271, 296; S. Simonsohn, Toledot ha-Ye-
hudim ha-Dukkasut Mantovah (1962), index; D. Kaufmann, in: jqr,
9 (1896/97), 255 ff.

TRACHONITIS, a province of the area of * Bashan E. of the
River Jordan and N. of the River Yarmuk. It was one of the
three provinces into which the area was divided by the Ptol-
emies, the other two being Gaulonitis and Batanaea. As a re-
sult the Targum renders the name Argob as a region of Bashan
and as "the province of Trachonitis" (pelakh Terakhona y cf.
Deut. 3:4). The emperor Augustus awarded it to Herod, and it
remained with his heirs until Agrippa (11; c. 100). In 106 c.e.,
together with all Bashan, it was annexed to the province of
Arabia, the capital of which was Bozrah and it is therefore
called "Trachonitis of Bozrah" in the Tosefta (see below).
During Herod's stay in Rome, the inhabitants of Trachonitis

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TRADE AND COMMERCE

rebelled against him, and his commander *Zamaris cleared
it of marauders; it is therefore also referred to as "Trachoni-
tis of Zamaris" (Terakhona de-Zimra). For halakhic purposes
Trachonitis was regarded as part of the territory of Erez Israel,
and therefore, the laws appertaining to the Sabbatical Year ap-
plied to it (Tosef, Shev. 4:11).

TRACHTENBERG, JOSHUA (1904-1959), U.S. Reform
rabbi and scholar. Trachtenberg, born in London, was taken
to the U.S. in 1907. He received rabbinic ordination at Hebrew
Union College (1936) and served Congregation Covenant of
Peace, Easton, Pennsylvania (1930-51), and Bergen County Re-
form Temple, Teaneck, New Jersey (1953-59). During 1951-52
he worked on a survey of religious conditions in Israel, spon-
sored by the Central Conference of American Rabbis and the
Union of American Hebrew Congregations. His report, dis-
playing great depth of feeling, appeared in the Year Book (1952)
of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. Trachtenberg
was active both in the fields of scholarship and community
work. In Easton he was president of the Jewish Community
Council (1939-46); an ardent Zionist, he was identified with
the Labor Zionist movement. His scholarly work was con-
ducted despite the handicap of a serious eye defect. Jewish
Magic and Superstition (1939, repr. 1961) was his Ph.D. dis-
sertation at Columbia University. An outgrowth of this study
was The Devil and the Jews (1943, repr. 1966), which examines
the relationship of the medieval conception of antisemitism
to the modern variety. Consider the Years (1944) is a history
of the Easton Jewish community.

bibliography: A.J. Zuckerman, in: ccary, 70 (1961),

180-1.

[Sefton D. Temkin]

TRADE AND COMMERCE.

In the Bible

The geopolitical location of Palestine, set as it is in the heart
of the Fertile Crescent, made it a pivotal link in the commer-
cial activities carried on by land and sea between, on the one
hand, Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula in the south and, on
the other, Phoenicia, Syria, Anatolia, and Mesopotamia in the
north. Palestine also played a part in the maritime trade with
the Mediterranean islands, as it did, too, in trade with the
commercial centers on the Mediterranean littoral.

The special position enjoyed by Palestine among the an-
cient lands was due to the existence and activities of cities -
harbor cities and others - which, being situated along the
main arteries of communication, became important centers
in the international and internal trade. The written sources in
archaeological finds clearly show that trading was a favorite
occupation by which a considerable proportion of the local
population directly or indirectly earned a livelihood. A notable
contribution to the development of economic relations in Pal-
estine was made by the nomads who, roaming the border ar-
eas of the permanently populated regions and along the main
highways, engaged in the transit trade (Gen. 37:25, 28).

Since it was poor in natural resources and raw materi-
als, Palestine's own share in the export trade comprised agri-
cultural products and other items, the production of which
was associated with agriculture. Foreign sources (in particu-
lar those of Egypt, which imported the products of Palestine)
and to some extent, too, the Bible, emphasize that Palestine
sustained itself by exporting cereals and flour, oil and wine, as
well as cosmetic and medicinal products extracted from plants
(Gen. 43:11; Ezek. 27:17; Hos. 12:2) and, at a relatively later pe-
riod, also ore and finished metal goods. In contrast to its lim-
ited exports the population of Palestine needed an unceasing
stream of products, various luxury goods, and raw materials,
such as timber, metal, and so on.

The destinations and composition of the commodities
and the identity of the traders did not change with the con-
quest of Palestine by the Israelites. They did not actively par-
ticipate in trade either because of the tribal structure of their
autarchic society and economy or because access to the main
arteries of commerce was obstructed by the autochthonous
population. Thus the Bible contains no evidence of the pur-
suit of trade or finance (allied areas also in ancient times). Nor
do the laws of the To rah make much reference to commerce,
the exceptions being the laws enjoining just weights, mea-
sures, and balances (Lev. 19:36; Deut. 25:136°.), and stringent
warnings against exacting interest from Israelites, but these
admonitions may reflect other spheres of economic activity
and a later period when the land was being divided among the
tribes. It is also probable that the sparse mention of trade is
due in part to the negative attitude of the writers and redactors
of the Bible and of prophetic circles to commerce and to the
foreigners who engaged in it: "As the merchant [lit. Canaan]
keeps balances of deceit, he loves to oppress" (Hos. 12:8). The
expression "Canaanite" became a synonym for "a merchant"
("Who has devised this against Tyre, the crowning city, whose
tradesmen are princes, whose merchants [Canaanites] are the
honorable of the earth?" - Isa. 23:8; and see Pro v. 31:24, et al.).
Throughout the First Temple period (Isa. 23; Ezek. 27) and also
in the early days of the Restoration (Neh. 13:16) their activi-
ties were considerable.

Israelite participation in international economic activi-
ties and commerce began with the inception of the United
Kingdom. This participation was made possible by the estab-
lishment of a large kingdom whose needs were considerable
and whose political ties were extensive. The control of lengthy
sections of the important trade routes in Transjordan and in
the coastal plain, along which commerce flowed, intensified
the urge to profit from it. In the days of *David and particu-
larly in those of *Solomon economic relations were devel-
oped with the kingdom of *Tyre, one of the most important
economic powers at the time. To carry out its extensive con-
struction projects both within and outside the confines of
Jerusalem, Israel needed building materials, metal, and other
commodities, which were supplied and transported to Jaffa
by the Tyrians in exchange for agricultural products: "And we
will cut whatever timber you need from Lebanon, and bring

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TRADE AND COMMERCE

it to you in rafts by sea to Jaffa, so that you may take it up to
Jerusalem" (n Chron. 2:15 [16]; cf. 1 Kings 5:2iff.).

The chronicler of Solomons activities lays great stress
on the place occupied by the royal trade. Indeed, it seems
that the monarchy in Israel exercised a monopoly in this
economic sphere. Solomons Tyrian allies undoubtedly ben-
efited from the Israelite control of the arteries of communica-
tion along which flowed the trade with southern Arabia and
Egypt, for Solomon could direct the caravans to such desti-
nations in his own kingdom and in friendly countries as he
wished. Thus he profited not only from barter with Tyre but
also from the international transit trade. Moreover, the royal
commercial apparatus in Israel was able to initiate indepen-
dent trading activities. According to the sources, this inde-
pendent trade was apparently maritime commerce in which
Solomons ships, built with Tyrian help in the port of *Ezion-
Geber, took part. Yet these very sources make it possible for
the opposite conclusion to be drawn, for it is probable that the
Tyrians insisted on being made partners in such ventures in
exchange for their technical assistance and for the participa-
tion of their men in these expeditions: "King Solomon built
a fleet of ships at Ezion-Geber, which is near Eloth on the
shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. And Hiram sent
with the fleet his servants, seamen who were familiar with the
sea, together with the servants of Solomon" (1 Kings 9:26-27;
11 Chron. 8:17-18). The ships sailed to, and traded with, the
African and Arabian coasts (see *Ophir). On these voyages
they brought with them precious metals and precious stones,
as well as rare kinds of timber: "And they went to Ophir, and
brought from there gold, to the amount of four hundred and
twenty talents; and they brought it to King Solomon" (1 Kings
9:28; 11 Chron. 8:18). "The fleet of Hiram, which brought gold
from Ophir, brought from Ophir a very great amount of al-
mug wood and precious stones" (1 Kings 10:11; 11 Chron. 9:10).
According to one theory, Israelite -Tyrian ships also voyaged
in the Mediterranean Sea as far as Spain (if *Tarshish is ex-
plained as a place name). Another view however maintains
that "the fleet of ships of Tarshish" was a type of ship suitable
for transporting metal, and hence alludes to the nature of the
Israelite exports and the goods received in exchange: "For
the king had a fleet of ships of Tarshish at sea with the fleet of
Hiram. Once every three years the fleet of ships of Tarshish
used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks"
(1 Kings 10:22; 11 Chron. 9:21).

Barter also occupied a place in Solomons economic ac-
tivities: the royal merchants purchased horses from *Que and
chariots from Egypt, and marketed them as "a finished prod-
uct" to the kings of Syria: "And Solomon's import of horses was
from Egypt and Keveh [Que] , and the king's traders received
them from Keveh at a price. A chariot could be imported from
Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hun-
dred and fifty; and so through the king's traders they were
exported to all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of
Aram" (1 Kings 10:28-29; n Chron. 9:28). The enigmatic refer-
ence to "the kings of the mingled people" (1*11711 '37ft the read-

ing in 11 Chron. is "the kings of Arabia" - 11S7 'D^ft) alongside
"the governors of the land" as persons with whom Solomon
had commercial relations either indicates that the United
Kingdom traded directly with the Arabian Peninsula, or may
refer to contacts with nomads who engaged extensively in
transporting goods from the south to the north (1 Kings 10:15;
11 Chron. 9:14). The well-known story of the Queen of *Sheba's
visit to Jerusalem may reasonably be explained on the assump-
tion that the queen of this South Arabian kingdom came to
Jerusalem at the head of a trade delegation to establish closer
relations with Israel (1 Kings 10:1 ff; 11 Chron. 9:1-12).

The extensive space which the Bible devotes to Solomon
is not accorded to the kings who reigned after him. This, how-
ever, does not warrant the conclusion that the commercial ac-
tivities ceased after Solomon's time. The continuation of these
activities is attested by the products of foreign lands dating
from the days of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah which have
been uncovered at various archaeological sites in the country.
Under King * Jehoshaphat of Judah there was a renewed at-
tempt to sail ships from Ezion-Geber which failed owing to
the destructive forces of nature: "Jehoshaphat made ships of
Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold; but they did not go, for the
ships were wrecked at Ezion-Geber" (1 Kings 22:49 [48] )• This
attempt is undoubtedly to be understood against the back-
ground of the relations which Jehoshaphat established with
the dynasty of Omri in Israel and with the Kingdom of Tyre.
He may have been assisted in the building of his navy by the
Tyrians. The close ties maintained by *Omri and Ahab with
the Tyrians are similarly to be regarded as indubitably com-
mercial relations. Jehoshaphat apparently brought the kings
of Israel into association with the activities of his navy in the
Red Sea: "After this Jehoshaphat king of Judah joined [lanriN]
with Ahaziah king of Israel, who did wickedly. He joined him
[irnsrH] in building ships to go to Tarshish, and they built the
ships in Ezion-Geber. Then Eliezer son of Dodavahu of Mare-
shah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying: 'Because you
have joined [splinrirn] with Ahaziah, the Lord will destroy
what you have made.' And the ships were wrecked and were
not able to go to Tarshish" (11 Chron. 20:35-37). The use of
the root hbr, "to join," is intended to indicate the significance
of the relations between Jehoshaphat and Ahaziah. In several
Semitic languages the use of hbr denotes a commercial part-
nership, particularly in a maritime connection. According to
1 Kings 22:50, Jehoshaphat rejected Ahaziah's offer to cooper-
ate with him in maritime commerce.

Additional evidence of trade that was conditioned by
political circumstances is the presence not only of Aramean
commercial agencies in Samaria in the days of Omri and in
part of those of Ahab, but also, after the latter's victory over
Aram, of Israelite agencies in Damascus (1 Kings 20:34). Fur-
thermore the economic tendencies to develop trade in Israel
and Judah, though not explicitly mentioned in the Bible, are
evident in the expansionist ambitions of these kingdoms to-
ward Transjordan and the west, the purpose of which was to
gain control both of the trade routes in these areas and of the

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TRADE AND COMMERCE

centrally located ports that promoted trade with Phoenicia,
Egypt, and other countries on the Mediterranean littoral.

The biblical references to internal trade are sparse. This
trade was carried on in open places, in streets, squares, and
marketplaces (Neh. 13:17-22), as also in open areas near gates
(11 Kings 7:1). It apparently took the form mainly of barter, in
which farmers, artisans, and others who offered the products
of their labors participated. Merchants and peddlers also dis-
played their wares. There is no information on the quality of
the goods or on the organization of the internal retail trade.
The Bible mentions trade in oil (11 Kings 4:7), wine, grapes,
and figs (Neh. 13:15-16), fish (13:16) and animals (11 Sam. 12:3,
et al.), in addition to products such as pottery (Jer. 19:1) and
items of clothing (13:1-2). These individual mentions undoubt-
edly represent only a few of the potential articles of trade. The
likely range of the retail trade may be inferred from the cul-
tural and material standard of the population at various peri-
ods, and in particular from the fact that the economy of the
Israelites ceased to be autarchic already at a late stage of the
division of the land among the tribes, for as the standard of life
rose among the inhabitants of the country, so undoubtedly did
the articles of trade increase in quantity and diversity.

[Hanoch Reviv]

Post-Biblical

During the Babylonian Exile Jews became acquainted with
old commercial traditions. The post-biblical, talmudic epoch
shows Palestine again as an agrarian country, as is clear from
the Talmud and Josephus. The growing Diaspora intensified the
contacts with Phoenicians, Syrians, and Greeks, and especially
Greek influence as is to be seen in the use of technical terms.
The consequence of those influences is especially notable
where Jews met in an atmosphere of strong commercial activ-
ity, as in Alexandria and later in Delos and Ostia. In the late
Roman Empire there were colonies of Jewish and Syrian mer-
chants all over its realm who preserved their ethical and reli-
gious traditions. Such colonies were to be found from Britanny
and Ireland as far as India and Turkestan. Hennig stressed the
commerce of Jews with China which had already come into
being. The superiority of the Jewish over the Syrian merchants
must, according to Heichelheim, be seen in the fund of com-
mon traditions going back to Babylonia. The Talmud knows
the "pragmateutes" and the "emporos" as specializations in
trade in far distant lands, terms which point to their Helle-
nistic origins. In addition, the word "taggar" - known from
Palmyra - is found, and is related to the Babylonian "tamkar."
The taggar was the merchant who was occupied in local com-
merce. Many of these traditions passed, as pointed out by R.S.
Lopez, from the late Roman Empire to the Byzantine Empire
and from Sassanid Persia to the empire of the Caliphs. On the
base of a widely autonomous economy, trade in the distant
lands was limited to luxury goods.

Middle Ages to 18 th Century

From the fifth to seventh centuries, Jews traded as far as Gaul
where the ports of Provence, especially *Narbonne and *Mar-

seilles, served them as transit places. They dealt in perfumes,
glassware, textiles, and other luxury articles of the Orient. Pro-
copius, Cassiodorus, and Pope Gregory 1 (the Great) mention
Jewish merchants in Genoa, Naples, and Palermo. The system
of trade in the *Byzantine Empire probably favored the expan-
sion of these merchants toward the west where the vacuum
created by the invasions of the Germans opened new routes for
selling Oriental luxury goods. Clients of all ranks were to be
found. Jewish merchants supplied kings as well as monasteries
and high church dignitaries with * spices and all types of pre-
cious Oriental goods. The extent to which they obtained these
wares directly from the Orient is not certain. Documentation
on direct trading relations with the Orient exists only from
the end of the eighth century. In 797 when * Charlemagne sent
two ambassadors to the caliph Harun-al-Rashid from Aix-la-
Chapelle the merchant *Isaac acted as a guide and interpreter,
returning to Aix-la-Chapelle in 802.

At least from the seventh century, after the ports of Syria
had been conquered by the Arabs, Jews were able to develop
a far-flung trading network. According to Ibn Chordadbeh,
the postmaster of the caliph of Baghdad (between 854 and
874), the *Radaniya traded between France and China along
four routes, some of them touching at Byzantium on their
return. It is not clear from where the Radaniya came, either
from France or from a region east of the Tigris. These mer-
chants brought swords, eunuchs, slaves, furs, and silks from
the West, and musk, aloes, camphor, cinnamon, and other
articles from the East. One of the most important spheres of
trade seems to have been the * slave trade, especially in slaves
from the countries of the Slavs, since the Council of Meaux
in 845 (see *Church Councils) prohibited trade in Christian
slaves. The chief market was the area in the Iberian Penin-
sula under Muslim rule. Commercial centers of the northern
route were * Kiev, the valley of the Danube, where they had
to pass the customs of Raffelstetten near * Passau, then *Re-
gensburg and *Mainz.

From the tenth century, this northern route became the
more important because of the rise of the Mediterranean ri-
valry of the Italian cities. Mainz and Regensburg then appar-
ently became the most important starting points for trade
expeditions to the East. Jews from the western regions trav-
eled as far as Bui gar of Itil (see *Atil), the capital of the Jewish
*Khazars on the Volga. Around 955 *Isaac b. Eleazar brought a
letter from * Hisdai ibn Shaprut, when a minister in Cordoba,
to the Khazar king * Joseph. The route passed through Prague
and Cracow. In 965 Prague was visited by the Spanish geog-
rapher *Ibrahim ibn Yaqub, who stressed the importance of
this town for the trade with the East and mentions the role
of the Jews. There he saw Jewish and Islamic merchants from
the empire of the Khazars and * Crimea. At that time Italian
Jews still had trading connections with Jerusalem. In partic-
ular Jews of Gaeta traded with Jaffa, and Jews of Capua with
Egypt, until the rising cities of Amalfi, Ban, Venice, Genoa,
and Pisa drove them from the Levantine trade. Venetian cap-
tains were forbidden to transport Jews and Jewish merchan-

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TRADE AND COMMERCE

dise. The activity of the Jews of Mainz in the East European
trade led to a diplomatic correspondence by the doge Pietro
of Venice and the patriarch of Grado with Emperor Henry i
and the archbishop of Mainz concerning the duty to compel
the Mainz Jews to become Christians or else prohibit them
from trading in Oriental goods.

In this period, additional Jewish settlements grew in the
Rhine region, the main part of the East Franconian Empire,
the most important being Metz, Trier, Cologne, Worms, and
Speyer. There they were allowed to trade freely, especially in
wines, hides, and drugs, as well as in meat and secondhand
goods, which was often combined with lending on pawn,
while slaves and Oriental products were also important. From
the tenth century a new route was opened through the Danube
Valley to Hungary which became accessible after the inhab-
itants became converted to Christianity, *Esztergom (Gran)
or Ofen-Pest serving as points of transit. From there the mer-
chants often crossed the passes of the Carpathians, continuing
to *Przemysl and Kiev, where there was an important Jewish
settlement. Toward the end of the 11 th century *Isaac b. Asher
ha- Levi at Speyer was well informed on the role and impor-
tance of this East European trade. He relates that the mer-
chants traveled in caravans, and that each caravan formed an
association, buying the merchandise jointly and distributing
it by lot. During the 12 th century Regensburg Jews became
the main entrepreneurs of this trade. * Pethahiah of Regens-
burg shows that Jews from there traveled as far as Crimea, the
^Caucasus, ^Baghdad, and *Mosul. Later, from the beginning
of the 13 th century, Prague and Vienna seem to have outrivaled
Regensburg. In 1221 transit through Vienna was forbidden.
After the Tatar invasions Kiev's importance waned and this
eastern trade declined.

Regensburg especially was a center for the silver trade
and the mint business. Meanwhile, for the slave trade another
route from Magdeburg and Merseburg to the Rhine came into
use. The customs regulations of Coblenz from 1104 record the
passage of slaves on the Rhine for the last time, since after the
adoption of Christianity by the Slav countries the slave trade
there was prohibited.

Along the trade routes of the Indian Ocean, as well as
the Mediterranean, in the 11 th to 13 th centuries, Jewish mer-
chants combined in manifold far- distance trading activities
as well as more limited coastal trading in most of this pe-
riod. * Yemen served as a transit station for the trade between
Egypt and the Far East. Scores of categories of articles, some
of them in huge quantities, were transported by this Jewish
trade mainly through Muslim ports. Jewish trading activity
was based on a well-established organization of Jewish mer-
chants at the ports.

Meanwhile, the interior market in Western Europe grew,
the fairs of Cologne especially attracting Jews. They met there
three times a year in order to sell and buy wool, hides, furs,
jewels, and pearls. With the First Crusade an epoch of perse-
cutions began in Western Europe (see *Crusades). Local re-
strictions and canon law compelled Jews to concentrate on

*moneylending. However, as late as the 14 th century *Alexan-
der Sueslein ha-Kohen of Frankfurt states that Jews did busi-
ness at the fairs of the Christians, and that on Sabbath non-
Jewish debtors came with wagons of corn. The responsa of
*Meir b. Baruch of Rothenburg show that Jewish merchants
used the Rhine shipping route, trading in, among other items,
salted fish, wool, skins, wines, grain, silver, and gold. After the
decline of the Cologne fairs Jewish merchants were attracted
by the fairs of Frankfurt and Friedberg. At the same time the
courts of the princes offered a market for luxury goods. In this
period Jews generally seem to have bought from far-distance
traders in order to sell as retailers and *peddlers. How far there
were trading relations for instance with southern France and
Spain is hard to ascertain. By then the distant trade had mainly
passed to Christian merchants. Generally members of a family
joined in partnership and women took an active part.

In the persecutions, plunder, and massacre of the Jews
occasioned by the *Black Death, the patricians were not the
main adversaries of the Jews - many of whom being active in
far-distance trade had commercial relations with them - but
the artisans, who viewed the Jewish retailers and peddlers as
bringing unfavorable competition. After the persecutions Jews
were again active in trade and apparently had trade connec-
tions from the Rhineland not only with the Netherlands and
France but also with parts of Spain, Switzerland, and prob-
ably Italy.

Meanwhile, a new series of anti- Jewish measures began.
From the end of the 14 th until the beginning of the 16 th centu-
ries Jews had to leave most of the German towns. They with-
drew into the small domains of local lords or went to Eastern
Europe where there were possibilities open in the service of
the crown of Poland and the nobles. The wealthy Jews were at-
tracted by privileges in connection with the colonization poli-
cies of Duke *Boleslav and King *Casimir in. Witold, grand
duke of Lithuania, continued this policy. In an agrarian so-
ciety Jews became important representatives of commercial
activity. Not only the princes, but the nobles also had good
relations with them. From Poland Jews, in the same way as Ar-
menians, participated in the trade with the Black Sea regions,
especially with Caffa (*Feodosiya), Khadzhibei, Cetatea-Alba
(*Belgorod-Dnestrovski), and *Kiliya. * Vladimir- Volynski,
* Lutsk, Lvov, Cracow, and later Lublin and Bratislava became
the main trading links in Poland and Silesia. Meanwhile a Jew-
ish colony grew up at Caffa, and later, after its decline, Jewish
merchants in ^Constantinople established direct commercial
relations with Poland.

In *Apulia and *Sicily Jews were active in the silk trade,
Emperor Frederick 11 granting them the monopoly for trade
in raw silk. They also organized the commerce in dyed tex-
tiles. In southern France Jews played a main part in the trade
of kermes. From the ports of Provence they took part in the
Levantine trade and had connections with the Spanish littoral,
Sicily, and southern Italy. This trade was organized, like that
of the Italian merchants in Venice or Genoa, by the practice
of commenda. Mardoche Joseph, whose register from 1374 has

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TRADE AND COMMERCE

been preserved, owned woods where the resin was extracted
from the trees. In Tranche- Comte from 1300 to 1318 a Jew-
ish company developed extensive trading activity in goods
and money.

Iberian peninsula. On the Iberian Peninsula Jews could
maintain far-reaching trading relations from the areas un-
der Arab rule with Central Europe and the slave markets in
Eastern Europe, as well as with North Africa and the Levant,
their main centers being Cordoba and *Lucena. Following
persecutions in the Moorish part of the peninsula, Jews set-
tled in the areas with a Christian population, where they par-
ticipated, among other commercial activities, in provisioning
the soldiers who fought in the Christian Reconquest. Apart
from the prohibition on the slave trade, their economic ac-
tivity was unrestricted. Generally, more is known of their ac-
tivity as lessees of revenues such as customs or rents than of
their trading activities, but in *Toledo, the Jewish center in
Castile, as well as in ^Barcelona and *Saragossa, the centers
in Catalonia and Aragon, some Jews must have been mer-
chants, dealing for instance in cloth or bullion. Don Samuel
ha- Levi, the richest Jew in Toledo in the 14 th century, was a
merchant, and the building of the synagogue of Toledo as well
as that of Cordoba must have been made possible by wealth
acquired by trade.

In Portugal the Abrabanel family and other Jewish cloth
merchants had far-reaching trade connections. The persecu-
tions of the Jews in Spain of 1391 resulted in major damage
to Jewish workshops, to the cloth production in Aragon and
Catalonia, the tanneries of Oscana and Cordoba, the silks of
Valencia, Seville, *Talavera de la Reina, and *Murcia, the car-
pets of Borja and Salamanca, the goldsmiths' wares of Toledo
and Cordoba, and other precious articles of artisan produc-
tion organized by Jewish manufacturers and merchants. At the
same time there were fairs to which Jews imported silk from
Persia and Damascus, leather from Tafilalet, and Arabian fili-
gree. Records exist especially from Seville showing that even
after the persecutions the production of Jewish swordsmiths,
tailors, and manufacturers of embossed leather, and the ac-
tivities of merchants continued. Meanwhile, the wave of con-
versions to Christianity among the Jews in Spain especially
affected members of the upper class, including merchants.
One group of them is expressly known to have continued its
activity as merchants - the Villanova of Calatayud, the Mal-
uenda, de Ribas, de Jassa from Tauste and Hijar, the Ortigas,
Espres, Vidal, and Esplugas from Saragossa. Don Alfonso of
Aragon, a bastard of King John of Navarre, had three sons by
Estenza, daughter of the rich cloth merchant Aviasa ha- Cohen
or Coneso, and took the name of Aragon.

A last important role was played by Jewish merchants in
Spain in the final phase of the Christian Reconquest. There
were also trading relations with the Moorish regions, and one
of the reasons for the restrictions ordered against them by the
Cortes of Toledo in 1480 was that Jews were selling arms there.
On the other side Abraham ^Senior and Isaac Abravanel with

a staff of Jewish merchants organized the supply of the troops
that conquered Malaga, Baza, and finally Granada.

The edict of March 31, 1492, ordering the expulsion of
the Jews from Spain was made even more severe since they
had to sell their properties but were forbidden to take gold
and silver away with them. In Aragon Jews sold textile work-
shops at Hijar, Barbastro, Huesca, Saragossa, Lerida, Man-
resa, Valencia, and Barcelona. One of the best-known textile
manufacturers at Huesca was Solomon Abenaqua, and at Hi-
jar, Samuel Auping.

marrano activity. The exiles included many craftsmen,
manufacturers, and merchants. The majority emigrated to
Portugal, the nearest place of refuge. Those who preferred to
stay in Spain had to accept baptism, though secretly most of
them maintained their Jewish religious traditions and were re-
garded as a special group of New Christians (Marranos). The
Spanish overseas expansion opened up new fields of activity
for them, especially in the spice trade. Rui Mendes (de Brito),
and subsequently Francisco and Diogo *Mendes, organized
trading activities which spanned an area from the East Indies
through Lisbon to Antwerp, and included not only spices, but
precious stones, pearls, and other Oriental luxury goods. Ad-
ditional Marrano families entered this trade. Later, toward the
end of the 16 th century, notably the Ximenes, the Rodrigues
devora, Heitor Mendes, Duarte Furtado de Mendoza, Luis
Gomes d'Elvas, and the Rodrigues Solis families participated
in the East Indies trade.

Other fields of Marrano trading activity were the trade
with Africa and Brazil which began with Fernao de Noronha,
who organized the trade in Brazilian dyewood. Marrano mer-
chants participated in the development of sugar production in
Madeira, Sao Tome, and Brazil. Diogo Fernandes and a group
were owners of one of the five sugar plantations which existed
in Brazil about 1550. Toward the end of the 16 th century, as can
be seen from the records of the Inquisition, among the out-
standing businessmen accused of Judaizing were Bento Dias
Santiago, Joao Nunes, and Heitor Antunes, who from localities
in the northeast, especially Paraiba, Olinda, and Bahia, orga-
nized the export of sugar and other Brazilian goods as cor-
respondents of the Marrano merchants at Lisbon and other
places in Portugal, as well as of their relatives, who meanwhile
had begun emigrating to Northern Europe. By maintaining
commercial relations from Brazil to Buenos Aires, and from
there through Cordoba to Lima and Potosi, they organized an
important contraband trade for a market which, because of
the monopolistic policy of the Spanish center, was underpro-
vided. They exported textiles and other manufactured goods
or slaves, and received bullion which they sent to Europe. "La
complicidad grande," the large-scale investigation organized
by the Inquisition, which alarmed Lima from 1635 to 1639, re-
sulted in economic disaster; among 81 persons apprehended,
64 were "Judaizers," most of them merchants.

When the Dutch West India Company occupied part of
Brazil, the Marranos and those who now openly confessed

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TRADE AND COMMERCE

their Jewish tradition took a remarkable part in the trade both
in retail business, in financing, and in the export-import trade.
When the Dutch were expelled from the northeast (the last
from ^Recife in 1654) some of the sugar traders settled in the
West Indies, where, through their European market connec-
tions they contributed, at first in Barbados and Guyana, in de-
veloping sugar export to Europe. Later Curacao and Sao Tome
became the main centers of Jewish trade in the Antilles.

This was a factor that exercised great influence in the ex-
pansion of Jewish trade toward Africa after the expulsion from
the Iberian Peninsula. At first Morocco, Sale, and *Safed af-
forded them trading possibilities, and with the rise of the slave
trade to America they found chances to extend their influence
to the main African slave markets on the coast of Guinea, the
Cape Verde Islands, Sao Tome, and Angola, since these re-
gions belonged to the sphere of Portuguese dominance. The
same circumstances operated in the infiltration by Marrano
merchants into Spain, especially to Seville, in order to par-
ticipate from there in the American trade. Among the early
families engaged in this activity was the Jorge family whose
participation in the slave trade is recorded from 1540. After
their bankruptcy in 1567, other representatives were Francisco
Nunes de Bejar and his son Antonio Nunes Caldeira. These
Seville merchants had correspondents in the important cen-
ters in the Indies and West Africa as well as in Lisbon, and
especially with the slave contractors of Africa, some of whom
were Marranos. From 1587 the king of Spain as monarch of
Portugal signed slavetrading agreements with Lisbon mer-
chants for the provision of slaves in Angola and Cape Verde.
This system lasted until the Portuguese restoration in 1640.
Meanwhile Moroccan trading connections were intensified
with the Netherlands, especially through the intervention of
the important family of Palache.

Jewish trading connections also intensified with the Se-
phardi migration to the Mediterranean.

Under Muslim Rule

In the Arab world Jewish trade in the Middle Ages followed
the same trends as in the Occident. At first Arab expansion
contributed to the urbanization of the Jews and favored their
trading activity, especially in the era under the *Fatimids.
Ya c qub ibn Killis (c. 991), who later adopted *Islam and be-
came a vizier, was a merchant in the wide area between North
Africa and *Iraq, where ^Baghdad with its important Jewish
settlement remained the principal trading center. Under al-
Mustansir (c. 1094) the brothers *Abu Sa c d al-Tustari and Abu
Harun traded as merchants between * Egypt, *Syria, and Iraq,
and were influential in the finances of Egypt. In the 12 th cen-
tury a decline began, connected with the rise of the Christian
city states in the Mediterranean, the decline of the Fatimids,
and the Crusades. The Karimi merchants then obtained a
leading position.

With the emigration of Jews from the Occident to the
Ottoman possessions they were able to integrate into the
widespread network of international trade reaching as far

as Cochin and Goa, where spices and jewels attracted them.
The Danube principalities were also connected with this net-
work. From the 17 th century ^Isfahan Jews organized silk ex-
port to *Aleppo.

reestablishment in the west. From the end of the 16 th
century Leghorn, through the granting of important privi-
leges to its inhabitants, became the most important trading
link in the West, besides Venice. Jews compelled to emigrate
from Milan in the 16 th century were partially reintegrated
into the network of Marrano trade, as in Naples, whereas in
Rome and other central and northern Italian towns, some
commerce remained a Jewish occupation, though generally
not on a large scale.

In Provence, Jews lost their part in the Levantine trade
after their expulsion at the end of the 15 th century. Meanwhile
emigre settlements of Marranos grew up at Antwerp, and also
along the French Atlantic coast from St. Jean de Luz, *Bay-
onne, and Bordeaux to Nantes and Rouen and the Lower Elbe
in Hamburg and Glueckstadt, as well as in the Netherlands,
especially Amsterdam, and in London. Some of the Marranos
remained Catholics, mainly in Antwerp, but along the Lower
Elbe and at Amsterdam they openly returned to Judaism and
established Sephardi communities. All the settlements played
an important role in the trade between the Iberian Peninsula
and Northwestern Europe.

Leading Marrano families throughout the 16 th century
were among the main contractors of the Portuguese spice
trade. The jewel trade was an additional branch of the Ant-
werp colony, establishing connections with important trade
centers in the interior such as Cologne (to which during the
crisis in Antwerp they partly transferred their offices), with
the Leipzig and the Frankfurt fairs, with Paris, with the fairs of
Lyons, and with the trading centers of Italy. Meanwhile, they
participated in the export- import trade between the Neth-
erlands, England, Germany, and Italy. This included textiles,
English cloth, Netherlands fabric, Italian fustian, and silk and
grain, the latter being sent by sea. The main representatives of
this trade were the Ximenes, the Rodrigues d'Evora, the Alva-
res Caldeira, and the Jorge families. The Hamburg colony, for
some time, predominated in the import of sugar and spices
and contributed to the modernization of trade usages.

Alvaro Dinis and Antonio Faleiro were merchants in
Hamburg from the end of the 16 th century. At Amsterdam
Manuel Rodrigues Vega and others participated in the financ-
ing of voorkompagnien which opened up direct trade by the
Dutch to the East Indies. The direct participation of the Am-
sterdam Portuguese in the Dutch East India Company was
modest. But their international trading connections with the
Mediterranean, as well as with the African and the Brazilian
ports and the East Indies, contributed to the rise of the Dutch
international trade, as well as to that of Hamburg, Scandina-
via, and the Baltic.

The last act of the Dutch struggle with Spanish domina-
tion was helped by the contribution their merchants made to

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TRADE AND COMMERCE

the forces of the Portuguese restoration after 1640. Jeronimo
Nunes da Costa at Amsterdam and his father Duarte Nunes
da Costa at Hamburg were the main suppliers or agents to
the Portuguese of military and naval stores. However, it was
typical of the complicated situation within the communities
that Lopo Ramires at Amsterdam, a brother of Duarte Nunes
da Costa, and Manuel Bocarro (Jacob Rosales) at Hamburg
assisted the Spaniards.

In the second half of the 17 th century the Hamburg as well
as the Amsterdam Portuguese increasingly retired from the
trade with the Iberian Peninsula and its colonial settlements
in consequence of the continuing hostility against suspected
Marranos and Jews. Meanwhile new fields of commercial ac-
tivity opened with the Baltic, Scandinavia, and various courts.
Diogo (Diego) *Teixeira and his son Manuel, the outstanding
representatives at Hamburg, traded in jewels and, with their
relatives, the Nunes Henriques, at Amsterdam entered the
Norwegian copper exploitation. With the emigration of the
Teixeira group to the Netherlands, the Hamburg settlement
soon lost its earlier importance. Closely connected with Ham-
burg were small colonies at Altona and Glueckstadt. The lat-
ter especially was designed by Christian 1 v of Denmark and
his successors to be a rival of Hamburg, in particular in the
overseas trade, but never fulfilled their hopes. Nevertheless,
for a time some Iberian trade in the 1620s, and again some
African and West Indian trade in the second half of the 17 th
century, was organized from Glueckstadt.

In the Netherlands Amsterdam had the largest commu-
nity of Portuguese Jews. At the beginning of the 18 th century
these still took considerable part in the colonial trade but were
more active in speculative trade in commodities and company
shares. Meanwhile the Sephardi community of London also
took a share in the overseas trade, especially with West Africa
and the West Indies. In its eastern extremities, from the 16 th
century this trade system linked with the extensive trade sys-
tem of the Jews in * Poland- Lithuania based on *arenda and a
large and growing share in exports and imports, as well as in
the transit trade of the kingdom. The memoirs of * Glueckel
von Hameln, and the even more extensive activities of the
*Court Jews and factors show the influence of both these sys-
tems in Central European Jewish economic activity.

ashkenazi trading activity. For Ashkenazi Jews the
16 th and 17 th centuries were an epoch of repression in con-
sequence of the Reformation and Counter- Reformation. In
Germany they mostly lived in smaller settlements where
they obtained licences (Geleit; equivalent to the Italian con-
dotta) and traded in cattle, horses, * agricultural produce, or
secondhand articles obtained from loans on pawn, were ped-
dlers, or provided the mints with bullion. The brothers Op-
penheim at Frankfurt and their companies dealt in silk goods
and other textiles, and there already existed connections with
some courts that afforded the possibility of providing them
with luxury goods, and their armies with victuals and weap-
ons. When the possibility of forming mints, especially in the

Hamburg region where overseas trading connections guaran-
teed a steady silver market, opened, Jacob *Bassevi at Prague
was an outstanding entrepreneur of mints. During the Thirty
Years' War several Jews took the opportunity to organize pro-
visions for the armies. With the rise of the absolutist state and
the sumptuous baroque culture displayed at a large number
of courts the presence of the Court Jew opened new paths for
wide-ranging Jewish commercial activity. Partly as a conse-
quence of the protection afforded by the princes, the Ashke-
nazi settlements at Frankfurt, Hamburg, Altona, Berlin, and
then Vienna also became centers of Jewish trade. From Ham-
burg and Altona as well as from Copenhagen and Amsterdam
Jews entered the overseas trade.

From the second half of the 17 th and especially in the 18 th
century Jews of Hamburg and Amsterdam actively partici-
pated in the trade of the fairs of Frankfurt, Zurzach, Braunsch-
weig, Naumburg, and Frankfurt on the Oder, and especially
of Leipzig and Breslau. In Eastern Europe, since there was as
yet no large stratum of long-distance traders, this favored the
role of small traders who were mostly of Jewish origin and of-
ten traveled in caravans. Jews from Prague, Mikulov (Nikols-
burg), Leczno (Lissa), Teplice, Cracow, Brody, and Lvov in par-
ticular were among those visitors, but they had rivals in the
Armenians, Greeks, Wallachians, "Raitzen" (Russians), and
Courlanders. In Poland many of these Jews administered the
trade of the nobility. Lithuanian Jews preferred Koenigsberg,
Memel, and Riga, and traveled as far as Moscow. Galician Jews
traveled to the Danubian principalities and imported wines
from Hungary. Jewish trade was mostly concentrated in the
fairs of Lublin, Yaroslaw, To run, Gniezno, Kopyl, Stolin, and
Mir. During the 18 th century Berdichev and Brody, a free city
from 1779, became important. The growing Jewish population
in Bohemia, Moravia, Poland, and White Russia, and their
widespread artisan activity, opened up an interior market of
growing importance.

19 th and 20 th Centuries

From the period of the Middle Ages Jewish commercial activ-
ity had undergone many changes. At first the trade in Oriental
luxury goods predominated; then, with the overseas expan-
sion and the rise of shipping, colonial and staple goods were
added. The ^emancipation of the Jews in consequence of the
epoch of the Enlightenment, combined with the consequences
of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, put the
Jewish communities on a new basis. Most spectacular was the
rise of Jewish banking and the activity of Jews in industrial-
ization, whereas the part of Jews in commerce is more diffi-
cult to discern. The organization of trade, then the sector of
large stores (Tietz, Wertheim, Karstadt), and the commodity
trade, especially in metal, wood, grain, furs, textiles, shoes,
and diamonds, remained the branches preferred by Jews. In
Germany, their part in the trading sector from 1895 to 1933 de-
clined from 5.7 to 2.5%. In 1925 in Prussia over 34% of those
active in the sector of banking and stock exchange, 13.2% in
brokerage, 10.8% in the real estate business, and 10.7% in the

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TRADE AND COMMERCE

commerce of merchandise and products, were Jews. On the
whole, about 50% of the Jewish population were occupied in
commerce. With the growing degree of social assimilation,
however, this proportion declined as did the general partici-
pation of the Jews in economic life.

In general, it maybe stated that the proportion of Jewish
participation in commerce diminished in Germany and rose
in the East European countries. In Hungary (1920) 44.1%, in
Czechoslovakia (1921) 39.1%, in Poland (1913) 35.1%, and in
Russia one-fifth (1926) of the total Jewish population were
active in commerce. As Simon *Kuznets stressed, in the pre-
World War 11 epoch in all countries excepting Poland and
the Soviet Union the largest sector in the industrial structure
of the gainfully occupied Jewish population remained trade
and finance. They accounted for such a large proportion of
the nonagricultural Jewish population because small-scale
entrepreneurship was more readily accessible: it did not re-
quire heavy capital investment, and personal training was
not necessary. Moreover, the conditions under which Jewish
minorities had lived for centuries favored the acquisition of
skills and the formation of connections useful for the pursuit

of trade and finance.

[Hermann Kellenbenz]

In the U.S.

colonial period to 1820. Virtually from the mid-i7 th -
century beginnings of their settlement in North America, the
Jews tended to support themselves as small businessmen -
general merchants and shopkeepers - in tidewater commercial
and shipping centers like New York, Newport, Philadelphia,
Charleston (South Carolina), Savannah, and Montreal. Their
function, like that of the non- Jewish businessmen with whom
they frequently formed partnerships of more or less limited
duration, was to supply the local market with hardware, tex-
tiles, and other European produced consumer goods as well
as commodities like rum, wines, spices, tea, and sugar. They
attempted to balance their European and West Indian im-
ports with exports of North American products like lumber,
grain, fish, furs, and whale oil. Though specialization was not
unknown, these tradesmen for the most part offered a wide
range of wares.

Jews were represented in nearly every branch of early
American enterprise apart from the export of tobacco and
iron. Seldom, however, did they play a leading role: great
coastal, Caribbean, and trans-Atlantic merchant-shippers like
Aaron *Lopez of Newport, Nathan Simson and Jacob ^Franks
of New York, and Nathan * Levy of Philadelphia, substantial
inland merchants, land speculators, and fur traders like Jo-
seph Simon of Lancaster (Pennsylvania) and Samuel Jacobs
of Canada, and important army purveyors like David Franks
of Philadelphia were atypical - if not always for the charac-
ter, certainly for the scale, of their dealings. Not infrequently
i8 th -century American Jewish businessmen acted as agents
for European firms. The Levy- Franks clan of New York and
Philadelphia, for example, constituted a branch of the family's
commercial empire headquartered in London. Though rudi-

mentary banking often fell within a merchant's sphere of activ-
ity - since without extending credit to his customer he could
not have survived - Jewish financiers on the contemporary
European scale were absent from the early American scene.

The colonial American economy was precarious, offering
formidable hazards as well as attractive opportunities. Even
well-established merchants not uncommonly owed their Euro-
pean suppliers huge sums, while bankruptcies and even im-
prisonment for debt occurred with considerable regularity.

Post- Revolutionary and Early National America gave rise
to fledgling Jewish communities in Midwestern river ports
like Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, while Jewish economic activ-
ity presented in many respects a more varied scene. Though
shopkeeping and merchantry continued to be characteristic,
the country's westward expansion and interest in developing
its own resources generated many new enterprises involving
Jews: land speculation, planting, shipping, banking, insur-
ance, garment manufacturing, mining, and distilling. Jewish
railroad directors prospered in South Carolina, and Jewish
bank directors were active in South Carolina, New York, and
Rhode Island. The Richmond (Virginia) firm of Cohen and
Isaacs employed a frontiersman like Daniel Boone to survey
land in Kentucky, and the Philadelphia *Gratzes became more
important in the trans -Allegheny trade. The New York Hen-
drickses became prominent in the copper industry. Moses
Seixas was among the Bank of Rhode Island's organizers in
the 1790s, and Judah *Touro established an impressive mer-
cantile reputation in New Orleans. Peddling, though usually
no more than a transitional occupation, was far more com-
mon among Jews in early i9 th -century America than it had
ever been during the pre -Revolutionary period.

As the American economy burgeoned in the half-cen-
tury following the Revolution, people skilled in trade, mon-
eylending, the distribution of commodities, and the estab-
lishment of wholesale and retail outlets were needed with
increasing frequency everywhere in the country. Jews found
a wide gamut of opportunities in a developing America and
took advantage of them to become well integrated into the

country's business life.

[Stanley F. Chyet]

since 1820. German Jewish immigrants to the U.S. who be-
gan arriving in large numbers about 1820 devoted themselves
mainly to trade. The "Jew peddler" succeeded the "Yankee
peddler" in the countryside as young Jews, securing their
goods on credit mostly from Jewish wholesale houses in cities,
peddled household and dry goods and small luxuries among
isolated farmers throughout the Northeast, Middle West,
and the South. With the opening of California in 1849 Jews
became purveyors to its mining camps, a function they later
performed in towns of the Rocky Mountains and the South-
west from the 1870s until the towns declined in the 1890s.
The Jewish peddler's foreign accent, dauntlessness, and busi-
ness skill won him a distinct, rather complimentary image in
American folklore. Those who usually started by carrying their
stock in a pack on the back came to own a horse and wagon;

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TRADE AND COMMERCE

later, when their success permitted, they quit itinerant trade
to open a store. Partners and employees were usually drawn
from members of the family Jewish merchants during the
middle and later 19 th century established themselves not only
in all large cities, but in many crossroads villages and in river
towns the length of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. During
this period they played a major role in establishing a conti-
nentwide commercial network. In addition they were wheat
and cotton brokers, and conspicuous in U.S. international
trade. The migration of Jewish merchants from small places
to booming metropolitan centers is noticeable after the 1880s.
Their most conspicuous activity was the establishment of de-
partment stores, among them some of the world's largest. A
retail enterprise of particular importance was Sears Roebuck,
under the ownership of Julius Rosenwald, which published
huge catalogs for mail order service, thereby nearly eliminat-
ing the itinerant country peddler s market. Other merchants,
notably clothiers, began to manufacture the goods they sold.
A small but highly important group branched into banking
from their mercantile operations (see ^Banking).

East European Jews who settled mainly in large cities had
few opportunities for rural peddling. Their commercial efforts
were mainly urban. In the Middle West they were scrap metal
merchants for the steel mills; throughout the United States
they were petty shopkeepers when they did not follow pro-
letarian occupations. The great majority of New York City's
25,000 pushcart peddlers in 1900 were Jews, as were half of
its 4,000 meat retailers in 1888. The city's commercial life has
been largely in Jewish hands to the present day. About 1920,
only 3% of Los Angeles Jews were peddlers, but manufactur-
ers, proprietors, and shopkeepers amounted to 20%. Jews were
numerous in U.S. commerce, especially in such branches as
import and export, department stores, general merchants in
small cities, and after 1945 in inter-city chain and discount
stores. The slow decline of small retail trade in the U.S. and
the movement of Jews into white-collar occupations and the
professions decreased the place of Jews in U.S. commerce, but
roughly one -third of gainfully employed U.S. Jews still made
their living in wholesale and retail trade.

[Lloyd P. Gartner]

bibliography: ancient and biblical times: F. Del-
itzsch, Handel und Wandel in Altbabylonien (1910); R. Hartmann, in:
zdpv, 41 (1918), 53-56; B. Meissner, Babylonien und Assyrien, 1 (1920),
336-70; G. Dalman, Orte und Wege Jesu (1924); idem, in: pjb, 12
(1916), 15-54; 21 (1925), 58JL; A. Koester, Schiffahrt und Handelsverkehr
des oestlichen Mittelmeers im$. und 2. Jahrtausend v. Chr. (1924); W.G.
Barnes, Business in the Bible (1926); B. Maisler (Mazar), in: jpos, 9
(1929), 80-81; idem, in: zdpv, 58 (1935), 73-83; M. Rostovtsev, Cara-
van Cities (1932); S. Yeiven (ed.), Ha-Mishar, ha-Taasiyyah ve-ha-
Melakhah be-Erez-Yisrael bi-Ymei Kedem (1937); Abel, Geog, 2 (1938),
207-22; M. North, in: zdpv, 60 (1937), 183!!.; 61 (1938), 2off., 277!?.;
S. Smith, in: Antiquaries Journal, 22 (1942), 876°.; J.J. Garstang, in:
American Journal of Archaeology, 47 (1943), 35-62; B. Maisler (Mazar),
in: rhje, 1 (1947), 34ff-; W.F. Leemans, The Old Babylonian Merchant
(1950); idem, in: Journal of Economic and Social History of the Orient,
2 (1959), 111-2; 3 (i960), 21-37; 4 ( 1 96i), 106-12; idem, Foreign Trade

in the Old Babylonian Period (i960); M. Avi-Yonah, in: iej, 1 (1950/51),
56-60; G. Cardascia, Les Archives des Murdshu (1951); J. Lewy, in: Ori-
entalia, 21 (1952), 265-92; A. Barrois, Manuel darcheologie biblique, 2
(1953), s.v. Commerce; A.F. Oppenheim, in: jaos, 74 (1954), 6-17; K.
Polanyi et al., Trade and Market in the Early Empires (1957); C.H.
Gordon, in: jnes, 17 (1958), 28-31; G.W. van Beck and A. Jamme, in:
b asor, 151 (1958), 9-16; F.M. Heichelheim, An Ancient Economic His-
tory, 1-2 (1958 2 ); M. Stekelis, in: Eretz Israel, 5 (1959), 35-37; J.B. Cur-
tis and W.H. Hallo, in: huca, 30 (1959), 103-39; A. Malamat, in: jbl,
79 (i960), i2ff.; D.O. Edzard, in: Journal of Economic and Social His-
tory of the Orient, 3 (i960), 38-55; M. Birot, ibid., 5 (1962), 91-109; W.
Ward, ibid., 6 (1963), 1-57; J.B. Pritchard, in: ba, 23 (1960), 23-29; EA.
Speiser, in: basor, 164 (1961), 23-28; W.F. Albright, ibid., 163 (1961),
31-64; 164 (1961), 28; E. Anati, ibid., 167 (1962), 23-31; A. Malamat, in:
SeferBaer (1961), 1-7; A. Millard, in: jss, 7 (1962), 201-13; A.F. Rainey,
in: Christian News From Israel, 14 (1963), 17-26. post-biblic al pe-
riod: L. Herzfeld, Handelsgeschichte derjuden des Altertums (1879);
L. Heybod, Handelsgeschichte derjuden des Altertums (1894); L. Fuchs,
Die Juden Aegyptens in ptolemaeischer und roemischer Zeit (1924);
F.M. Heichelheim, Die auswaertige Bevoelkerung im Ptolemaeer-Reich
(1925); idem, Roman Syria, in: An Economic Survey of Ancient Rome,
1 (1938); J. Obermeyer, Die Landschaft Babyloniens im Zeitalter des
Talmuds und des Gaonats (1929); M. Rostovtsev, Gesellschaft und
Wirtschaft im roemischen Kaiserreich, 1-2 (1931); idem, The Near East
in the Hellenistic and Roman Times (1941); idem, Social and Economic
History of the Hellenistic World, 3 vols. (1941); idem, Gesellschaft der
alten Welt, 1-2 (1942); Baron, Social 2 , index; F.M. Heichelheim, The
Ancient Economic History from the Palaeolithic Age to the Migrations
of the Germanic, Slavic and Arabic Nations, 1-2 (1958); V. Tcherikover,
Hellenistic Civilization and the Jews (1959). up to 18 th century:
Baer, Spain; W. Heyd, Geschichte des Levanthandels im Mittelalter
(1879); P. Masson, Histoire du commerce francais dans le Levant au
xvme siecle (1896); J.T. Medina, El tribunal... de la Inquisicion en...
la Plata, Santiago de Chile (1899); M. Grunwald, Juden als Reeder und
Seefahrer (1902); I. Schiper, Die Anfaenge des Kapitalismus bei den
abendlaendischen Juden (1907); idem, Dzieje handlu Zdowskiego na
ziemiach polskich (1937); W Sombart, Die Juden und das Wirtschafts-
leben (1907); H. Waetjen, Das Judentum und die Anfaenge der moder-
nen Kolonisation (1914); idem, Die Niederlaender im Mittelmeergebiet
zurZeit ihrer hoechsten Machtstellung (1909); idem, Das hollaendische
Kolonialreich in Brasilien (1921); G. Caro, Sozial-und Wirtschaftsge-
schichte der Juden im Mittelalter und der Neuzeit, 2 vols. (1908-20);
B. Hahn, Die wirtschaftliche Taetigkeit der Juden im fraenkischen und
deutschen Reich bis zum 2. Kreuzzug (1911); M. Freudenthal, Leipziger
Messegaeste... 16/5 bis 1/64 (1918); idem Leipziger Messegaeste (1928);
Mann, Egypt; L. Brentano, in: Der wirtschaftende Mensch in der Ge-
schichte (1923); G. Le Strange, Baghdad during the Abbasid Caliphate
(1924); JA. Goris, Etude sur les colonies marchandes meridionales a
Anvers de 1488 B 156/ (1925); S. Stern, Der preussische Staat und die
Juden (1925); idem, JudSuess, ein Beitrag zur deutschen und juedischen
Geschichte (1929); idem, Court Jews (1950); J. Brutzkus, in: zgjd, 3
(1931); M. Wischnitzer, in: Festschrift S. Dubnow (1930); A.S. Tritton,
The Caliphs and their Non-Muslim Subjects (1930); J. Starr, The Jews
in the Byzantine Empire, 641-1204 (1930); W.J. Fischel, Jews in the Eco-
nomic and Political Life of Mediaeval Islam (1931); H.I. Bloom, The
Economic Activity of the Amsterdam Jews (1937); B. Lewin, Eljudio en
la epoca colonial, un aspecto de la historia rioplatense (1939); idem, El
Santo Oficio en America y el mas grande proceso inquisitorial en Peru
(1950); Brugmans-Frank; Duarte Gomes, Discursas sobre los comer-
cios de las Indias, ed. by M.B. Amzalak (1943); A. Canabrava, O com-
ercio portugues do Rio da Prata (1944); Roth, Italy; Roth, England;
Roth, Marranos; J.L. de Azevedo, Epocas de Portugal economico

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TRADITION

(1947 2 ); D.S. Sassoon, A History of the Jews in Baghdad (1949); H.
Schnee, Die Hoffinanz und der moderne Staat (1953-67); S.D. Goitein,
Documents on the India Trade, vol. 1; R.S. Lopez, in: M. Postan and
E.E. Rich (eds.), The Cambridge Economic History of Europe, 2 (1952);
idem, in: Relazioni del X Congresso Internazionale di Scienze Storiche,
3 (Eng., 1955); H. Kellenbenz, Sephardim an der unteren Elbe (1958);
idem, in: Annales, 11 (1956), iff.; idem, in: Jahrbuch fuer Geschichte
von Staat, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft Lateinamerikas, 1 (1964); idem,
in: Jahrbuch fuer Geschichte Osteuropas, 12 (1964); idem, in: Miscel-
lanea Mediaevalia, 4 (1966); idem, in: Monumenta Judaica (Exhibi-
tion, Cologne, 1963); W. Treue, ibid.; F. Guggenheim, in: Gruenberg,
Diejuden auf der Zurzacher Messe im 18. Jahrhundert (1957); A. Wiz-
nitzer, Jews in Colonial Brazil (i960); L. Hanke, in: Revista de Historia
de America, 51 (Eng., 1961); J.A. Gonsalves de Mello (ed.), Dialogos
dos Grandezas do Brasil (1962); Subhi y Lahib, Handelsgeschichte Ae-
gyptens im Spaetmittelalter, 1157-1517 (1965); L. Poliakov, Les Banqui-
ers juifs et la Saint-Siege du xme au xvue siecle (1965). i9 th -20 th
centuries: P. Silbergleit, Die Bevoelkerungs-und Berufsverhaeltnisse
derjuden im deutschen Reich, 1 (1930); M. Wischnitzer, in: ej, 7 (1931),
910-34; S. Kuznets, in: L. Finkelstein (ed.), The Jews, their History,
Culture and Religion, 2 (i960 3 ), 1597-666. in the u.s. - colonial
period to 1820: S.F. Chyet, Lopez of Newport (1970); J.R. Marcus,
The Colonial American Jew, 3 vols. (1970); E. Wolf and M. Whiteman,
Jews of Philadelphia (1957); J.L. Blau and S.W. Baron, The Jews of the
United States 1790-1840: A Documentary History, 1 (1963), 95-158; I.J.
Benjamin, Three Years in America 1859-1862, 2 vols. (1956); H.L.
Golden, Forgotten Pioneer (1963). since 1820: R. Glanz, The Jews of
California (i960), 19-91; idem, The Jew in the Old American Folklore

(1961), 96-177; idem, in: jsos, 6 (1944)* 3-30; 7 (i945>> 119-36; B.E.
Supple, in: Business History Review, 31 (1957), 143-78; A. Tarshish, in:
Essays in American Jewish History (1958); B.B. Seligman, S.J. Fauman,
and N. Glazer, in: M. Sklare (ed.), The Jews: Social Patterns of an
American Group (1958), 69-82, 101-6, 119-46; M. Whiteman, in: Stud-
ies and Essays in Honor of Abraham A. Neuman (1962), 503-16; idem,
in: jqr, 53 (1962/63), 306-21; M. Rischin, The Promised City: New
York's Jews 1870-1914 (1962); L.J. Swichkow and L.P. Gartner, The His-
tory of the Jews of Milwaukee (1963), 94-109, 160-6, 296; M. Vorspan
and L.P. Gartner, History of the Jews of Los Angeles (1970), 5-14, 25-28,
32-45, 75-78, 91-106, 120-34, 193-200, 230-7; E. Tcherikower (ed.),
Geshikhtefun der Yidisher Arbeter-Bavregung in di Fareynikte Shtatn,
1 (1943), 224-53, 338-55; F.S. Fierman, in: ajhsq, 56 (1966/67),
371-456; 57 (1967/68), 353-435; W.J. Parish, The Charles Ilfeld Com-
pany (1961); idem, in: New Mexico Historical Review, 35 (i960), 1-29,
129-50; R.M. Hower, History of Macy's of New York, 1858-1919

(i943)-

TRADITION (Heb. nldip). The term tradition derives from
the Latin tradere, which means "to transmit" or "to give over."
Generally, it refers to beliefs, doctrines, customs, ethical and
moral standards, and cultural values and attitudes which are
transmitted orally or by personal example. Under this designa-
tion, the process of transmission itself is also included. Theo-
logically, in Judaism, tradition is the name applied to the un-
written code of law given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai.

Terms

Masoret is the general name for tradition. It is found in Ezekiel
20:37 an d means originally "bond" or "fetter." Tradition is the
discipline which establishes the correct practice and interpre-
tation of the *Torah and was therefore regarded as a hedge or

fetter about the Law (Avot 3:14). Since this knowledge was
handed down by successive generations, it was also associ-
ated with the Hebrew word masor, denoting "to give over." In
the talmudic literature, the term masoret is used to include
all forms of tradition, both those which relate to the Bible
and those which concern custom, law, historical events, folk-
ways, and other subjects. Different kinds of traditions were
given special names. Traditions which specified the vocaliza-
tion, punctuation, spelling, and correct form of the biblical
text were called *masorah. Those legal traditions which were
revealed to Moses at Mount Sinai and were later preserved in
writing, were known as *Halakhah le-Moshe mi-Sinai ("law
given to Moses on Sinai"). A legal tradition which was handed
down by word of mouth, but did not necessarily emanate
from Sinai, was called shemuah ("a report"). Religious and
general traditions which became binding as result of long
observance by successive generations were termed *minhag
("custom"). Prophetic traditions described in the books of the
prophets and Hagiographa were known as Divrei Kabbalah
("words of tradition"). Esoteric and mystical traditions con-
cerning God and the world transmitted to the elect and then
passed down through the ages were called *Kabbalah, from
kibbel ("to receive").

Origin

Many statutes were committed to writing by Moses. However,
the vast majority of laws were handed down orally by him
(see Written and Oral *Law). The Written Law did not always
detail the manner and form of practice, giving rise of neces-
sity to tradition. An instance of this kind is the law relating
to fish which meet the biblical dietary requirements. Leviti-
cus 11:9 states that a fish that has a fin and a scale in the wa-
ter can be eaten. However, the minimum number of fins and
scales that a fish must have to be ritually edible is not speci-
fied. The traditions relating to the Bible and Mishnah taught
that a fish needs at least one fin and two scales to satisfy the
biblical dietary requirements (see Arukh, s.v. Akunos). Simi-
larly, the Bible commands that a paschal lamb be slaughtered
on the 14 th day of Nisan. There is no mention in the Bible as
to whether it is permissible to perform this act if the 14 th day
of Nisan occurs on the Sabbath when the slaughtering of ani-
mals is forbidden. In the year 31 b.c.e., the 14 th of Nisan fell on
the Sabbath. The Sons of Bathyra, the heads of the high court,
forgot the precedent previously established. Hillel, a then un-
known Babylonian, volunteered the information that he had
heard from Shemaiah and Avtalyon, the foremost teachers of
the age, that it was permissible to slaughter the paschal lamb
on the Sabbath. This reported tradition of Hillels mentors
was readily accepted (tj, Pes. 6:1, 33a), and it is mentioned
that because of this display of erudition with regard to tradi-
tion, Hillel was appointed nasi. Tradition was also the vehicle
of transmission for the rules of interpretation, of the Written
Law, such as the laws of *hermeneutics. Since it was impossible
within the confines of writing to record all the laws and their
applications in all situations, a medium was needed to preserve

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TRADITION

this information. Even today, with the availability of writing
media, much of our culture is handed down orally Tradition
was the means whereby extant law was maintained and ap-
plied to life. Thus R. Joshua b. Levi declared that all teachings
both of the Bible, Mishnah, Talmud, and aggadah and those
that were initiated by veteran scholars were already given to
Moses on Mount Sinai (see tj, Pe'ah 2:6, 17a). Some traditions
arose as a result of the common practice of the community.
These practices were considered to emanate from eminent
religious authorities and owed their binding character to
having been handed down by previous generations, from
father to son, a principle upheld by R. Johanan in the Tal-
mud. The citizens of Beth-Shean complained to him that the
custom of not going from Tyre to Sidon on the eve of the
Sabbath was impossible for them to observe. R. Johanan re-
plied, "Your fathers have already taken it (this custom) upon
themselves" (Pes. 50b). As a result, this tradition could not
be abrogated.

History

In rabbinic Judaism, tradition was binding and had the force
of law. The divine revelation to Moses consisted of the Written
Law and Oral Law with its implied exposition by the sages of
Israel. Berakhot 5a tells that R. Levi b. Hama said in the name
of R. Simeon b. Lakish: "What is the meaning of the verse, and
I will give thee the tables of stone, and the law and the com-
mandments, which I have written to teach them' [Ex. 24:12] . It
means as follows: 'the tables of stone' are the Ten Command-
ments, 'the law' is the Pentateuch, 'the commandments' is the
Mishnah, 'which I have written' are the prophets and the Ha-
giographa, 'to teach them' is the Gemara. This teaches us that
all these things were given at Sinai." Originally, the Oral Law
was handed down byword of mouth. When its transmission
became difficult, it was set down in writing in the Mishnah
and Talmud. The validity of the Oral Law was attacked by the
*Sadducees, one of the early sects in Judaism. Josephus re-
cords that the Sadducees held that "only those observances
are obligatory which are in the written word but that those
which derived from the tradition of the forefathers need not
be kept" (Ant. 13:297).

Talmudic Times

After the destruction of the Temple, the Sadducees disap-
peared. The body of tradition continued to grow as rites were
introduced to replace the Temple ritual. Megillah 31b pictures
the patriarch Abraham as concerned with how Israel could
obtain forgiveness, once the Temple ceased to exist. God as-
sures Abraham, "I have already ordained for them the order
of the sacrifices. Every time that they read them, it is consid-
ered as if they offer up a sacrifice and I forgive them all their
sins." After the destruction of the Temple, the system of pub-
lic prayer was instituted to substitute for the Temple service.
The liturgical traditions were handed down verbally, through
the centuries, until they were compiled in the prayer book of
Amram Gaon.

Medieval Times

At the end of the eighth century, rabbinic Judaism was again
challenged by a new sect, the Karaites. They accepted the au-
thority of the Bible but denied rabbinical tradition and law,
which had developed further as the Mishnah and Talmud
were elucidated and applied to life. Through its great expo-
nents, Saadiah and Maimonides, rabbinic Judaism triumphed
over the Karaites. The latter wrote his code of law, Mishneh
Tor ah ("The Second Torah"), and showed the direct connec-
tion between the Written Law and its explanation in the Oral
Law (Introd. Maim. Yad). As new situations arose, the tal-
mudic, geonic, and post-geonic traditions were further am-
plified. They in turn were set down in writing in the responsa
and codes. In the 16 th century R. Joseph Caro produced his
definitive code, the Shulhan Arukh. With the addition of the
glosses of R. Moses Isserles and later commentaries, it became
the most comprehensive compendium of Jewish law and tra-
dition to this day.

Modern Times

At the end of the 18 th century rabbinic Judaism, which had
maintained an unbroken chain of tradition from the days of
Moses was again challenged. A * Reform movement began in
Germany which sought to assimilate the Jews into the general
culture by modifying Jewish traditions. Among the reforms
instituted were sermons in the German vernacular, hymns and
chorals in German, the use of the organ, and the confirmation
of boys on the Feast of Pentecost instead of the traditional bar
mitzvah. In the course of time, this movement established it-
self in America. Here it continued to propound its doctrine
that Judaism was primarily a universalistic and moral religion.
Only the moral law was binding. Ceremonial laws which could
be adapted to the views of the modern environment were to be
maintained. Other Mosaic and rabbinic laws which regulated
diet, priestly purity, and dress could be discarded.

In reaction to the reformers' break with tradition, the
* Conservative movement was formed in America. At the
founding meeting of its congregational organization in 1913,
it declared itself "a union of congregations for the promotion
of traditional Judaism." Other aims were the furtherance of
Sabbath observance and dietary laws, and the maintenance of
the traditional liturgy with Hebrew as the language of prayer.
As the complexion of American Jewry changed, the Con-
servative movement incorporated some Reform externals of
worship such as family pews and the use of the organ in many
congregations. However, it accepted the authority of rabbinic
tradition, instituting changes advocated by its scholars, with
regard for the attitude of the people and the place of the ob-
servance in Jewish tradition.

Transmitters of the Tradition

In rabbinic literature the chain of tradition is given as fol-
lows: Moses received the Torah on Sinai and delivered it to
Joshua, who in turn delivered it to the elders, the elders to the
prophets, and the prophets to the Men of the Great Synagogue

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TRAGACANTH

(Avot 1:1). According to rabbinic Judaism, the teaching of the
great sages in every generation in keeping with the halakhah
is binding (Deut. 17:88). Thus, the transmitters of tradition
included the successors to the Men of the Great Synagogue
down to modern times, namely: the scribes (soferim), the pairs
(*zugot) y the tannaim, the amoraim, the savoraim, the geonim,
the codifiers, the world famous Torah authorities of every era,
and the rashei ha-yeshivah ("heads of the academies").

Significance

Tradition has given Judaism a continuity with its past and pre-
served its character as a unique faith with a distinct way of life.
As the successor of rabbinic Judaism, Orthodoxy represent-
ing tradition harks back to the Sinaitic divine revelation and
can only be changed within the framework of rabbinic law.
In Conservative Judaism, tradition is a vital force capable of
modification according to the historical evolution of Jewish
law. Reform Judaism has recently displayed a greater apprecia-
tion of traditional practices but tradition remains voluntary
in character (see *Masorah).

bibliography: S. Belkin, In His Image (i960), 29off.; B.
Cohen, Law and Tradition in Judaism (1959), 243 ff.; I. Epstein, Ju-
daism (1959), 49 ff.; S. Freehof, Reform Jewish Practices (1944), 193 ff.;
S.R. Hirsch, Judaism Eternal, 2 (1956), 612 ff.; L. Jacobs, Principles
of Faith (1964), 473 ff.; D. Rudavsky, Emancipation and Adjustment

(1967), 46off.

[Leon J. Yagod]

TRAGACANTH (Heb. DKD3, nekhot). The identification of
tragacanth with nekhot is attested by its Arabic name Rathira.
It was included in spices carried by the caravan of Ishmael-
ites from Gilead on their journey to Egypt (Gen. 37:25), as
well as in the gift sent by Jacob to the ruler of Egypt (43:11). It
is the aromatic sap of a species of Astragalus which is called
TpcryciKav6a in Greek. These are plants of the family Papilio-
naceae, short prickly shrubs which exude a sap when the roots
or stalks are split open. Tens of species of Astragalus grow in
Israel but these do not exude the nekhot. This is obtained from
the species that grow in east Asia and the mountains of Syria
and Lebanon. In former times it was used as incense but to-
day it is used for medicinal purposes.

bibliography: Loew, Flora, 2 (1924), 4i9ff.; J. Feliks, Olam

ha-Zomeah ha-Mikra'i (1968 2 ), 274-5.

[Jehuda Feliks]

°TRAJAN (Traianus), MARCUS ULPIUS (52/3-117), Roman
emperor, ruled 98-117 c.e. In 114 c.e. Chosroes, king of Par-
thia, violated the arrangement between his country and Rome
regarding Armenia. Trajan went to war immediately, con-
quered Armenia, and annexed it to his empire together with
northern Mesopotamia, also including Adiabene. In 116 he
captured Ctesiphon, the capital of the Parthians, and pen-
etrated into Babylon. However, a violent uprising among the
population of Mesopotamia in which the Jews of the country
even earlier played an active role and the previous uprisings in
Cyrenaica and Egypt (see below) compelled him to interrupt
his campaign of conquest. Nothing definite is known about

Trajan's attitude to the Jews. According to the papyrus Alilot
Kedoshei Alexandria ("Deeds of the Martyrs of Alexandria"),
Trajan and his wife Plotina preferred the Jews of Alexandria
to its Greeks (see *Egypt). In 115, however, at the height of
Trajan's war with the Parthians, a great revolt of Jews broke
out in Cyrenaica that spread to Egypt and Cyprus the fol-
lowing year. Trajan ordered the disturbances put down with
a strong hand. In the same year the revolt spread to Meso-
potamia where it also involved the Jewish inhabitants of the
country particularly. Trajan ordered Lusius *Quietus to sub-
due the Jews of Mesopotamia, and the order was carried out
with savage cruelty. An allusion to this has been preserved in
rabbinic literature which refers to the "war of Quietus" (Sot.
9:14 - according to the correct reading; Seder Olam), and also
mentions the great destruction of Egyptian Jewry generally,
and that of Alexandria in particular, with the crushing of the
revolt (the destruction of its magnificent synagogue is ascribed
to Trajan himself- tj, Suk. 5:1, 55b).

There is an aggadah that Trajan attacked the Jews be-
cause, when his son was born on the Ninth of Av, the Jews were
mourning, while on the death of another child which occurred
on Hanukkah, they kindled lamps in joy (tj, ibid.; Ta'an. 18b;
Lam. R. 1:16 no. 45; et al.). Another aggadah states that before
his death he decreed the death of *Pappus and Julianus in La-
odicea. In rabbinic literature the name Trajan usually appears
in a corrupt form: Trogianus, Tarkinus, etc.

bibliography: Juster, Juifs, 2 (1914), 185-94; Tcherikover,
Corpus, 2 (i960), introd., index; K. Friedmann, in: Giornale della
Societd Asiatica Italiana, 2 (1930), 108-24; A. Schalit, in: Tarbiz, 7
(1935/36), 159-80; J. Guttmann, in: Sefer Assaf (1953), 149-84; S. Ap-
felbaum, in: Zion, 19 (1954), 23-56; A. Fuks, ibid., 22 (1957), 1-9; Alon,
Toledot, 1 (1958 3 ), index; R.P. Longden, The Wars of Trajan, in: Cam-
bridge Ancient History, 11 (1936), R. Syme, Tacitus, 1 (1958), 86-99,
217—35; A. Fuks, in: Journal of Roman Studies, 51 (1961); V. Tcherikover,
Ha-Yehudim be-Mizrayim... (1963 2 ), 116-30, 160-79.

[Moshe David Herr]

TRAMER, MORITZ (1882-1963), pioneer of child psychiatry.
Born in Czechoslovakia, Tramer began his career as an engi-
neer and mathematician and is the coauthor of a textbook of
higher mathematics for engineers, Differential- und Integral-
rechnung (1913). He then studied medicine and specialized in
psychiatry. From 1924 to 1946 he was medical director of the
Psychiatric Hospital in the Canton of Solothurn, Switzerland,
and initiated the establishment in 1924 of the Observation
Center "Gotthelf Haus" for emotionally disturbed children.
He lectured on child and adolescent psychiatry at Berne Uni-
versity and in 1951 founded the Swiss Institute of Research and
Information on Child Psychiatry. The designation of the spe-
cialty as "child psychiatry" owes its existence to Tramer. He
was also the advocate of its recognition as a medical specialty
in Switzerland in 1953.

Tramer was a prominent figure in national and interna-
tional professional organizations and published numerous ar-
ticles. His books include the monumental textbook Lehrbuch
der allgemeinen Kinderpsychiatrie (1942, 1964 4 ) and the well-

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TRANI, MOSES BEN JOSEPH

known monograph Allgemeine Psychohygiene (1960s). He was
the founder and editor of the first journal of child psychiatry
in 1934 later known as Acta Paedopsychiatrica which is the of-
ficial organ of the International Association for Child Psychia-
try and Allied Professions.

bibliography: Acta Paedopsychiatrica, 30 (1963).

[Alexander Meijer]

TRANI, seaport in Apulia, S. Italy. In the 12 th century, when
the town had become a port of embarkation for Crusaders and
an important center of Eastern trade, it contained a flourishing
Jewish community. When ^Benjamin of Tudela visited Trani
around 1159 he found 200 Jewish families there. Recogniz-
ing their economic usefulness the Norman kings in the 12 th
century and Emperor Frederick 11 in the first half of the 13 th
century granted the Jews a measure of protection. Thanks to
this royal patronage they were given the right to control and
distribute all the raw silk in Apulia and Calabria. Under An-
gevin rule toward the end of the 13 th century, the position of
the Jews deteriorated and they were subjected to severe per-
secution, fomented by Dominican friars. The houses in the
Jewish quarter were repeatedly sacked; *blood libels were
frequently raised against the heavily taxed Jews and a grow-
ing number was forced into baptism, causing heavy losses to
the community. In 1290 four synagogues were converted into
churches; two of them still stand. The position did not improve
in the next century and many Jewish families left the town.
In 1382 other synagogues were turned into churches and the
Jewish cemetery was confiscated by the friars. In 1413, when
King Ladislas of Naples issued certain dispositions regard-
ing the communal administration of the city of Trani, he de-
creed that the community (universitas) would have the right
to elect a governing body of 16 representatives consisting of
8 nobles, 6 commoners, and *Neofiti (baptized Jews). In all
probability the need for this provision arose from the con-
tinuing existence of a convert population that retained a sep-
arate identity. In 1443 Trani still had 870 families of *Neofiti,
and all the commercial activities of the town were said to be
concentrated in their hands. After the 1492 expulsions from
the Spanish kingdoms and Sicily, many exiles settled in Trani.
Jews and Neofiti were expelled from Trani in 1510-11, along
with the rest of the Jews in southern Italy. Sporadic persecu-
tions of Neofiti continued for some time. The medieval Jew-
ish settlement is still commemorated by street names such as
Vicolo Giudecca, Via Scolanova, and Via la Giudea (renamed
Via Mose (di Isaiah) di Trani).

bibliography: Milano, Bibliotheca, index; Milano, Italia,
index; Roth, Italy, index; U. Cassuto, in: Rivista degli studi orien-
tali, 13 (1932), 172-80; idem, in: Alexander Marx Jubilee Volume...
(1950), 387-9; Luzzatto, in: rmi, 10 (1935/36), 285-9; N. Ferorelli,
Ebrei nelVltalia Meridionale . . . (1915), passim; E. Munkacsi, Derjude
von Neapel (1939), 47-80. add. bibliography: C. Colafemmina,
"Documenti per la storia degli ebrei a Trani nei secoli xv-xvi," in:
Sefer Yuhasin, 3 (1987), 17-24; idem, Documenti per la storia degli ebrei
in Puglia nellarchivio di stato di Napoli (1990); D. Abulafia, "11 mez-
zogiorno peninsulare dai bizantini all'espulsione," in: Storia d'ltalia.

Annali 11, Gli ebrei in Italia. Dallalto Medioevo alleta dei ghetti, ed.
Corrao Vivant (1996), 5-44; C. Colafemmina, "Di alcune iscrizioni
ebraiche a Trani," in: rmi, 67 (2001), 305-12.

[Arial Toaff / Nadia Zeldes (2 nd ed.)]

TRANI, JOSEPH BEN MOSES (1568-1639), rabbi and hal-
akhist. Trani, known as the "Maharit" (Morenu ha-Rav Jo-
seph Trani), was born in Safed, the youngest son of Moses
b. Joseph *Trani. Joseph, 12 years old when his father died,
was taken into the home of Solomon *Sagis, a Safed scholar,
and became his pupil. In 1587, when Sagis died, Trani went to
Egypt, where he attracted many pupils. After a short time he
returned to Safed where he founded and taught in a yeshivah.
Following the outbreak of a plague in Safed (1594), he went
to Jerusalem, where he did research on the design and plan
of the Temple. The resulting work, Zurat ha-Bayit, was lost,
but many fragments and quotations from it have been pre-
served in Derekh ha-Kodesh by Hayyim *Alfandari (published
in Maggid mi-Reshit, Constantinople, 1710). After some time
Trani returned to Safed, where - as his father before him - he
headed the Sephardi community. In 1599 he was sent by the
Safed community to Constantinople, and in 1604 took up
permanent residence there. Trani headed a large yeshivah in
Constantinople which became a center of To rah for all Turk-
ish Jewry and produced many of the great Turkish rabbis of
the 17 th century, including Hayyim b. Israel *Benveniste. Trani
was eventually elected chief rabbi of Turkey, in which office
he introduced takkanot, established societies, and became
renowned for his many charitable acts. However, he took a
severe attitude toward the * Karaites, who came under his au-
thority according to the law.

In addition to Zurat ha-Bayit, the following works by Jo-
seph have been published: Talmud novellae on the tractates
of Sh abb at, Ketubbot, and Kiddushin (Venice, 1645); Zafenat
Paneah (ibid., 1648), sermons; and responsa (Constantine,
1641; Venice, 1645). Most of his works, which encompassed
all branches of Torah, have been lost, among them a super-
commentary on Elijah *Mizrahi's commentary on the Penta-
teuch and an abridgment of the Arukh of *Nathan b. Jehiel
of Rome.

bibliography: Frumkin-Rivlin, 1 (1928), 119-20; Rosanes,

Togarmah, 3 (1938), 96-100; Yaari, Sheluhei, 243-4; Bloch, in: Hado-

rom, 5-6 (1958), 95-108; 7 (1958), 78-100; I. Schepansky, Erez Yisrael

be-Sifrut ha-Teshuvot, 1 (1966), 314-22; 2 (1968), index, s.v. Sheelot

u-Teshuvot Maharit.

[Ephraim Kupfer]

TRANI, MOSES BEN JOSEPH (Heb. acronym Ha-Ma-bit;
1500-1580), rabbi. His father emigrated from Italy to Salon-
ika, where Moses was born, but the family was of Spanish or-
igin. Orphaned at an early age, Moses went to Adrianople to
live with his uncle Aaron, studying with him as well as at the
yeshivah of R. Joseph Fasi. He later proceeded to Safed where
he studied under Jacob *Berab, and was one of the four schol-
ars ordained by him in his attempt to reintroduce ordination
(*semikhah). In 1525 Moses was appointed marbiz Torah of the

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TRANSJORDAN

Bet Ya'akov congregation. In 1535 he visited Jerusalem. Moses
devoted himself to a considerable extent to the agricultural
laws which obtained in Erez Israel, and in a ^Sabbatical Year
exempted from tithes produce that had grown in land be-
longing to a gentile, even though it had been stored by a Jew.
This decision was disputed by Joseph *Caro and other Safed
scholars. There were also spirited controversies between him
and Caro on other matters. For some time he stayed in Da-
mascus (1565). Moses was active as rabbi and dayyan for 54
years, but it was only after the death of Joseph Caro that he
was appointed spiritual head of the whole community of Safed.
Moses had two sons: Solomon, who was rabbi in Egypt, and
Joseph *Trani (from his second marriage), who was rabbi in
Safed and in Constantinople.

Moses' works are Kir y at Sefer on Maimonides (Venice,
1551); Beit Elohim, a moral and philosophical work with a com-
mentary to *Perek Shirah (Venice, 1576; Warsaw, 1872); Iggeret
Derekh ha-Shem y a moral work (Venice, 1553); responsa (2 pts.,
Venice, 1629-30; Lvov, 1861).

bibliography: Conforte, Kore, 35b-36b; Fishman, in: Sinai,

14 (1944), 12-16; Dimitrovsky, in: Sefunot, 6 (1962), 71-117; 7 (1963),

41-100; Frumkin-Rivlin, 1 (1929), 88; Rosanes, Togarmah, 2 (1938),

i68f., i9off.; A. Elmaleh (ed.), Hemdat Yisrael (1946), 147-56; JofFeh,

in: Sinai, 24 (1948/49), 290-304; S. Schechter, Studies in Judaism, 2

(1908), index.

[Hirsch Jacob Zimmels]

TRANSJORDAN (Heb. JTftJ 1137). Geographically, Transjor-
dan includes the area east of the Jordan River, extending from
the sources of the Jordan near the *Hermon to the *Dead Sea.
However, the area north of the Yarmuk River (the Golan and
Bash an) are regarded as a separate entity, while the area east
of the Dead Sea and the *Arabah, down to the Red Sea, is in-
cluded in the region of Transjordan.

In its geographical configuration, Transjordan is com-
posed of a series of three regions running from north to south:
the eastern * Jordan Valley; the slopes descending to the val-
ley, which face westward and are well provided with rainfall;
and the mountains which slope gently eastward and merge
with the desert steppe. The settled part of this area covers
6,840 sq. mi. (17,500 sq. km.), of which the Jordan-Dead Sea
depression comprises 215 sq. mi. (550 sq. km.), the mountain
and hill region 2,617 sq. mi. (6,700 sq. km.), the high plateau
2,051 sq. mi. (5,250 sq. km.), and the sandy southern regions
approximately 1,953 sc i- m i- ( c - 5>ooo sq. km.). Politically, in
the Hashemite Kingdom of * Jordan, the region of Transjor-
dan is considered to include 28,320 sq. mi. (72,500 sq. km.) of
steppe and desert in a broad strip joining Iraq and dividing
*Syria from *Saudi- Arabia.

The settled area is cut by confluents of the Jordan flowing
from east to west, and by rivers emptying into the Dead Sea:
the Yarmuk, forming the northern boundary of the region; the
Jabbok, separating Gilead from Ammon and the Peraea; the
Nimrin, usually the northern boundary of Moab; the Arnon,
at certain times the boundary of Moab; the Zered, separating
Moab from Edom and the mountains of Seir. The mountain

range parallel to the Jordan on the east varies in height: in the
c Ajlun (Gilead), Tell Tbbin is 3,940 ft. (1,182 m.) high, Umm
al-Daraj is 4,203 ft. (1,261 m.) high, and Qal c at Ilyas is 3,640 ft.
(1,092 m.) high. South of the Jabbok, Nabi Yusha c reaches to
3,710 ft. (1,113 m -) an d Mount Nebo to 2,650 ft. (795 m.); south
of the Arnon, Jebel Sihan is 3,550 ft. (1,065 m -) high an d Jebel
al-Hasa is 113 ft. (1,234 m.) high; the mountains of Seir reach
to 5,776 ft. (1,733 m.). The greatest rainfall is in the c Ajlun
(c. 2jVi in.; 700 mm.) and in the mountains of Seir (c. 15% in.;
400 mm.). Most of the cultivable area receives about 8 in.
(200 mm.) annually, with a rainfall of about 3 in. (80 mm.) in
the desert. The mountains of Gilead are still wooded; in an-
tiquity the area was much more thickly afforested, as is borne
out by the story of Absalom. There is evidence that a large area
under cultivation extended eastward. Iron was mined near
Jerash and copper in the Arabah (see *Punon).

History

Paleolithic and Mesolithic remains, the earliest traces of occu-
pation in Transjordan, have been found in the mountains of
Seir and in Wadi Nimrin. A pre-ceramic Neolithic settlement
was discovered at al-Bayda , southeast of the Dead Sea. Mega-
lithic constructions were found at Alfa Safat and al- c Udayma
in the Jordan Valley. Near the latter site is Tulaylat al-Ghassul,
a Chalcolithic site of great importance, which gave its name to
the Ghassulian culture. From the Early Bronze Age onward,
a certain pattern of occupation can be noticed, mainly in the
southern part of Transjordan, as a result of the archaeological
survey undertaken by N. Glueck: periods of settlement varied
with periods in which the area was abandoned to nomads.

The first period of settlement lasted from approximately
the 23 rd to the 19 th century b.c.e. According to biblical tra-
dition, the early populations included the Zuzims at Ham
in northern Gilead, the Emims in Moab, and the Horites in
Mount Seir (Gen. 14:5-6). Possibly as a result of the invasion
described in this chapter, there was a decline in the settlement
of Transjordan from the 19 th to approximately the 14 th century
b.c.e. Egyptian texts do not mention any cities in Transjordan
within this span of time, except for those in the Jordan Val-
ley proper: Pehel (Pella; Execration Texts, Thutmosis 111 and
Seti 1), and perhaps Zaphon (Tell el-Amarna letters), Zarethan
(Execration Texts), and Kiriath Anab (Tell al-Shihab on the
Yarmuk; Seti 1, Papyrus Anastasi 1). Only in the 13 th century,
in inscriptions of Ramses 11, are cities in Moab, including Di-
bon, mentioned for the first time. The biblical definition of the
Egyptian province of * Canaan (Num. 34) definitely excludes
Transjordan, which was left to the Shasu nomads.

About a century before the Exodus, Transjordan was set-
tled again by the Ammonites, Moabites, and Edomites, who
formed a strong chain of kingdoms, with extensive areas under
cultivation and a system of efficient border fortresses. Probably
in the early 13 th century, Moab was attacked from the north
by Sihon, the Amorite king of Heshbon, who wrested the area
north of the Arnon from it. The Israelites, coming from the
wilderness, found it extremely difficult to cross Transjordan;

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TRANSJORDAN

finally they passed east of the settled area of Moab and Edom;
their victory over Sihon gave them the entire Jordan Valley, the
Gilead, and part of Moab. This area was allotted to the tribes
of Reuben (from the Arnon to the Nimrin Valley), Gad (from
southern Gilead to the Jabbok and the Jordan Valley), and half
of Manasseh (from the Jabbok northward).

In the period of the Judges these tribes were subjected to
the kings of Ammon and Moab, until David eventually con-
quered all of Transjordan down to the Red Sea. In the time
of Solomon, Israelite-controlled Transjordan was organized
into the three districts of Ramoth-Gilead, Mahanaim, and
southern Gilead (Gad?; i Kings 4:13-14, 19). After the division
of the kingdom, Ammon and Moab fell to Israel and Edom
to Judah, but all three soon regained their independence. As
is known from the *Mesha stele, Moab was reconquered by
Omri; it revolted against Israel in the time of Ahab, finally
gaining its independence in the days of Joram, the last of the
Omrid kings (851-842 b.c.e.; cf. 11 Kings 3). In later times
Israel never succeeded in subduing Moab, which under Mesha
had enlarged its boundaries to the edge of the Jordan Valley.
However, the kings of Judah succeeded in ruling large parts
of Edom in the ninth century during the days of Jehoshaphat
and Jehoram, and again in the eighth century in the days of
Amaziah and Uzziah.

With the eighth century b.c.e., the settled area of Trans-
jordan began once more to shrink, a process which lasted
until the Hellenistic period. The Assyrian king Tiglath-Pile-
ser in deported part of the Israelite population from Gilead
in 732 b.c.e. The Ammonites maintained their independence,
and the Edomites threw off Judean rule in the time of Ahaz
(743-727 b.c.e.). After the fall of Jerusalem and the deporta-
tion of its population by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 b.c.e., the
Edomites moved into southern Judea and their place was
gradually taken over by the Nabateans, a people known for
outstanding achievements in agriculture, architecture, and
art. Their kingdom was composed of sections of Transjordan,
Palestine, and Syria, and Petra was their capital (fourth cen-
tury b.c.e.). In the Persian period, Ammon was ruled by the
Jewish family of *Tobiads, whose roots in Gilead dated back
to the time of the Israelite monarchy.

In Hellenistic times, a new period of prosperity began for
Transjordan, lasting until the Arab conquest. The Ptolemies
or Seleucids founded a number of cities in the northern part:
Gadara and Abila to the north, followed by Pella and Gerasa.
Rabbath -Ammon became the city of Philadelphia and was
separated from the area of the Tobiads, who ruled the region
populated by Jews between Philadelphia and the Jordan (the
Peraea). Transjordan passed temporarily from Ptolemaic to
Seleucid rule in 218 b.c.e. and permanently in 198 b.c.e. In
the course of Hasmonean expansion, large areas of Transjor-
dan were conquered by Jonathan (the Peraea), John Hyrcanus
(Madaba and Heshbon), and Alexander Yannai (Moab to the
Zered, Gerasa, Pella, and Gadara). In 63 b.c.e. Pompey re-
stored the autonomy of the Greek cities, leaving only Peraea
to the Jews. In order to strengthen the Greek element under

Roman rule, he formed the Decapolis league, which included
Philadelphia. For a time, Herod ruled Gadara, which was re-
stored to Syria after his death. In the First Jewish War, the
Peraea was conquered by the Romans (68 c.e.), but its Jewish
population remained. In 97 the city of Capitolias was founded
at Belt al-Ras near Pella. In 106 Trajan annexed the Nabatean
kingdom; the cities of Madaba, Esbus (Heshbon), Areopolis
(Rabbath-Moab), Charachmoba, and Petra became part of the
new province of Arabia, into which Philadelphia and Gerasa
were incorporated. The cities of the area reached a height of
prosperity in the second century c.e. under the Antonines,
due to a new paved road (the Via Nova) running from Elath
(Aila) to Bostra throughout the length of Transjordan.

Christianity gained an early foothold in Transjordan,
when the Jerusalem community moved to Pella in 70 c.e. In
the Byzantine period southern Transjordan was attached to
Palaestina 111, the rest to Arabia. Churches and monasteries
were built in all the large cities and the bishops took part in
church councils. In the last centuries of Byzantine rule, Arab
influences in the area were marked. The first battle between
the Arabs and the Byzantines took place in 629, still in the life-
time of the prophet * Muhammad, in Transjordan (in Mu'ta,
near Karak). The final Arab conquest was effected in several
stages: southern Transjordan was taken in 630, the mountains
of Seir and Moab in 634, and the rest of the region in 635. With
the battle on the Yarmuk in 636, Arab rule in the area was es-
tablished. In the early Arab period, the area up to Jerash was
attached to the Jund al-Urdunn; central Transjordan, includ-
ing Amman, to the Jund Filastin; and the northern part to the
Jund Dimashq (^Damascus). Under Arab rule the northern
part of Transjordan together with northern Palestine consti-
tuted an administrative unit called Jund al-Urdun, with Ti-
berias as its capital. Central and southern Transjordan, with
the equivalent parts west of the river Jordan, became Jund
Filastin, administered from Ramleh. The Arab period marked
the beginning of a new decline in the population, which be-
came pronounced for centuries after the Crusades (13 th to 19 th
centuries). In the Crusades period, the Jordan Valley, part of
the c Ajlun, and the mountains of Karak and Shawbak down to
the Red Sea were combined into a principality known as Terre
D'Outre Jourdain. As the Crusaders, and especially the rulers
of the fortress of Montreal (Shawbak), threatened the pilgrims'
route to Mecca and even the holy cities themselves, Saladin
attacked and reduced the Crusader fortresses before the bat-
tle of Hittin. Under *Mamluk rule Transjordan was divided
between Mamlakat Dimashq (the districts (amdl) of c Ajlun
and al-Balqa) and Mamlakat al- Karak, which included Ma c an,
Shawbak, Zughar (Zoar), and Karak. In the time of Baybars
it was ruled by the last descendant of the *Ayyubid dynasty.
In Ottoman times the population of Transjordan reached its
lowest level and most of Transjordan was left to the Bedouin,
although the sultans kept up a semblance of administration in
the western areas. Most of the region was part of the vilayet of
Damascus, divided into the Sanjak of Hawran (to the Jabbok),
the Sanjak of Nablus, which occasionally included the Balqa,

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TRANSLATION AND TRANSLATORS

and the Sanjak of al-Karak. The southern sections, Ma'an and
Aqaba, were part of the vilayet of Hijaz. However, Ottoman
rule was nominal most of the time. Transjordan was regarded
as the backyard of Syria and Palestine and concerned the Ot-
tomans only during the annual pilgrimage, as the main Hajj
caravan from Damascus had to cross it en route to *Medina.
Only in the second half of the 19 th century, after the short-
lived Egyptian occupation (1831-40) and during the reform
period (Tanzimat), under *Abdul-Hamid 11, was resettlement
begun. The Ottomans had extended their direct rule over
Transjordan. Karak, the capital of its namesake sanjak, was
the major city in the area and the jurisdiction of its governor
stretched over most of sedentary Transjordan. Local popula-
tion increased when Circassian refugees from Russian-occu-
pied Caucasus were encouraged by the Ottomans (in 1861-64,
and later after the Turkish-Russian war of 1877-78) to migrate
to Palestine and Transjordan. In the latter they settled in and
around Amman, Zarqa, and Jarash. The 19 th century also wit-
nessed growing European interest in Transjordan, mainly for
archeological and historical reasons - in 1812 Burckhardt dis-
covered Petra and in 1806 Seetzen discovered Jarash. In the
second half of the 19 th century the interest of the Palestine Ex-
ploration Fund as well as of Christian churches and missions
in Transjordan yielded, inter alia, the discovery of the * Mesha
stele and the *Madaba mosaic map. In 1900-08 the Ottomans
built the Hijazi railroad from Damascus to Medina. About
one third of the 1,200 km. line passed through Transjordan,
bringing it closer to the administrative centers of Damascus
and "Istanbul, yet also triggering several rebellions in Karak.
For modern period after 1914, see also *Israel; * Jordan.

bibliography: G. Schumacher, Across the Jordan (1886);
idem, Karte des Ostjordanlandes (1908); A. Musil, Arabia Petraea
(1907); R.E. Bruennow and A. Domaszewski, Provincia Arabia, 3 vols.
(1904-09); C. Sternagel, Der Adschlun (1927); H. Rhotert, Transjor-
danien (1938); N. Glueck, The Other Side of the Jordan (1940); idem,
Explorations in Eastern Palestine, 4 vols. (1934-51); A. Konikoff, Trans-
jordan (1946); L. Harding, The Antiquities of Jordan (1959). add.
bibliography: N. Lewis, Nomads and Settlers in Syria and Jordan
(1987); R.S. Abujaber, Pioneers over Jordan: The Frontier Settlement in
Transjordan 1850-1914 (1989); E. Rogan, Frontiers of State in the Late
Ottoman Empire: Transjordan 1850-1921 (1999).

[Michael Avi-Yonah / Joseph Nevo (2 nd ed.)]

TRANSLATION AND TRANSLATORS (Medieval). The

earliest Jewish translations, apart from possible examples in
the Bible, are the Greek version of the Pentateuch and, later,
other books of the Bible, which were made to fill a need in the
Greek-speaking Jewish community of Alexandria and other
places that no longer understood the original Hebrew. Simi-
larly, the Aramaic vernacular of Jewish settlements in Palestine
and other parts of southwestern Asia explain the development
of Aramaic versions of the Bible.

In the 10 th century *Hisdai ibn Shaprut was one of the
main translators of Dioscorides' work from Greek to Arabic
in the court of Cordoba. During the 12 th and 13 th century To-
ledo was a very notable center of translations and the Jews

played an important role in this enterprise. In the middle of
the 12 th century the archbishop of Toledo, Don Raimundo
de la Sauvetat (1124-52), promoted the translation of Arabic
philosophical works from Arabic through the Romance ver-
sions into Latin. The Jew Avendauth worked together with
the Christian Gundisalvus, translating, for instance, the De
Anima of Avicenna and Ibn Gabirols Fons Vitae. One cen-
tury later, King Alfonso the Sage relied on Jewish translators
to get Romance versions of many scientific works. Among
them, Judah ben Moses ha-Kohen, Isaac ibn Sa'id, the Alfa-
quim Don Abraham (Ibn Shoshan?), Samuel ha- Levi Abula-
fiah, and Don Moses Alfaqui, translated important astronomic
and astrologic treatises.

The many translations into Hebrew which began to ap-
pear in Western Europe early in the 12 th century can be at-
tributed to several factors, among which the spread of Ju-
deo-Islamic culture was of central importance. Cultured and
scholarly men from Islamic Spain began to travel to Chris-
tian lands. Abraham Ibn Ezra, for example, traveled to Italy,
France, and England, and supported himself by writing He-
brew grammars, translations, and biblical commentaries com-
missioned by Jewish communities. These works undoubtedly
stimulated interest in the new approaches to language and
learning and reflected the cultural richness of Spain. In conse-
quence of religious persecutions and other disturbances in the
Iberian Peninsula during the 12 th century, some Jewish families
emigrated to southern France or northern Italy, and spread
something of the learning and achievements of their native
land in their new homes. Works written in Hebrew, moreover,
stimulated a desire for additional works in that language. In
addition, the general cultural awakening in Western Europe
during the 12 th century affected the Jews, encouraging them
to the further acquisition of knowledge. Without question, at
the end of the 12 th century, Maimonides' Hebrew code of Jew-
ish law Mishneh Tor ah. excited scholars in France and Italy, so
that they avidly sought everything the master produced, trans-
lating it from Arabic into Hebrew.

No discernible pattern governed the books that were
translated into Hebrew. Apparently, books were often trans-
lated on the request of a patron, or a scholar would select a
book to translate for his own reasons. However, besides the
large number of such unclassifiable translations, activity was
concentrated in the fields of philosophy, mathematics, medi-
cine, and other sciences. Generally, translators explained their
undertakings as being in response to a special request. Judah
ibn *Tibbon relates in the introduction to his Hebrew version
of Bahya ibn Paqudas Hovot ha-Levavot (Duties of the Heart)
that Meshullam b. Jacob, whom he praises as an adept in both
religious and secular studies, urged him to prepare a trans-
lation of the Arabic work. Similarly, Judah *A1-Harizi states
that he translated Maimonides' Moreh Nevukhim (Guide of the
Perplexed) at the invitation of some Provencal scholars. There
are many other examples of requests urging the translation
of a work, yet there is no information about remuneration,
although the translators presumably received some payment

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TRANSLATION AND TRANSLATORS

from those who requested the work. Perhaps a community as-
sumed some obligation for payment, especially if the persons
interested in the translation were influential members in it.
While it is reasonable to assume this of professional transla-
tors, like the Tibbonids or al-Harizi, it is probable that other
translators were impelled by a personal interest in the work
and a desire to bring it to the attention of their fellow Jews.

There was considerable complaint about the neglect of
Hebrew and the employment of Arabic. Writers occasionally
pointed out the difference between Jews who lived under Is-
lamic domination and Jews who resided in Christian lands. It
was not the use of the vernacular Arabic which vexed them,
because it was taken for granted that for social intercourse
the language of the land was the proper vehicle. But in view
of the fact that Jews in Christian countries utilized Hebrew
in their literary productions, Jewish writers in Islamic coun-
tries justified their use of Arabic by claiming that the subjects
they dealt with - subjects not cultivated by Italian and French
Jews - required a vocabulary which Hebrew did not possess
and which Arabic possessed in abundance. Moses ha-Kohen
*Gikatilla, who supplied a Hebrew translation of the gram-
matical studies of Hayyuj, explains that grammarians were
compelled to write in Arabic "because it is the current speech
of a victorious people, and it is explicit while Hebrew is vague;
clear and plain whereas Hebrew is ambiguous; and it is proper
to elucidate the unknown by the known and the vague by the
explicit." Judah ibn Tibbon presents a brief historical survey
of the course of development: "Afterward most of the geonim
lived in the Diaspora of the Muslim Empire, Iraq, Erez Israel
and Iran, and spoke Arabic, and all the Jewish communities
in those areas spoke that tongue. Most of their interpretations
of biblical and mishnaic and talmudic books were in Arabic,
as also most of their compilations and responsa in answer to
inquiries made of them. All the people understood it. More-
over it is a rich language, fully adequate for every theme and
every need of orator or author; straight and clear rhetoric, to
express the essence of every subject more than is possible in
Hebrew." Notwithstanding the conceded advantages of Ara-
bic over Hebrew, Jews adhered to the tradition that Hebrew
was the divine tongue, the first to serve mankind. But the exile
and the tribulations which Jews suffered had caused the loss
of a significant portion of Hebrew vocabulary, since the Bible
was the only record preserved.

In view of the difference in the richness of the two lan-
guages, the role of translator imposed certain duties, the main
being the coinage of words and phrases in Hebrew according
to need. For translating philosophical, scientific, or medical
works new technical words had to be created in Hebrew. It was
also necessary to decide what method to pursue in this pro-
cess. Ordinarily translation is in large measure interpretation,
and the function of the translator is to transmit in the new
medium the sense of the original. Before Samuel ibn Tibbon
translated the Guide of the Perplexed into Hebrew, he asked
Maimonides for suggestions. The latter offered the following
instructions: a translator must first understand the content,

and narrate and explain that content in the language in which
he is working. He will not escape changing the order of words,
or transmitting phrases in single words, or eliminating vo-
cables, or adding them, so that the work is well ordered and
expounded, and the language of the translator will follow the
principles governing that language. Despite this very sensible
advice, Samuel ibn Tibbon's translation of the Guide, and his
father's version of other works, give the impression of exces-
sive faithfulness to the original. Yet this did not prove contrary
to Maimonides' demands, inasmuch as he expressed his grati-
tude for the accomplishment of his translator. In fact, the style
developed by father and son, with strong Arabic influence in
its morphology, syntax, and vocabulary, became the standard
for subsequent efforts in this field (Goshen-Gottstein). Other
ways of translating, searching for a pure, more literary biblical
language and avoiding the numerous neologisms, was under-
taken also by other Jewish scholars like Judah Al-Harizi, who
translated Maimonides' Guide in a completely different way
not long after the Tibbonid translation. But the method of the
ibn Tibbon family was taken as a model for the future, while
Al-Harizi's translation was quickly forgotten.

When the full mastery of Arabic was lacking, books were
translated from Arabic to Latin by way of the Hebrew version,
and occasionally Hebrew translations were made from the
Latin rather than from the original Arabic. Although thorough
knowledge of both tongues was theoretically necessary - to
appreciate the nuances and fathom the true meaning of the
original, and to render it authentically and idiomatically - in
practice this was unfortunately rarely the case. Translators,
even if they were qualified to produce the ideal version, were
so concerned about remaining faithful to the original Ara-
bic that they frequently violated Hebrew syntax or sentence
structure, and disregarded simple rules of gender and num-
ber. Nevertheless, translators contributed greatly to the en-
richment of Hebrew, adding a large scientific and philosophic
vocabulary. The means utilized to expand the vocabulary were
forming new words from existing roots, creating additional
noun patterns, making derivations from verbal stems, or
forming verbs from nouns. Occasionally a new meaning was
attached to an existing term, parallel to the course followed in
the coinage of the Arabic terminology. In addition, a number
of words were borrowed from Arabic, and they were gener-
ally adjusted to the morphological requirements of Hebrew.
It should also be kept in mind that the philosophic and scien-
tific style introduced by the translators became the standard,
so that men who composed in Hebrew followed the patterns
adopted from Arabic.

Translators were not always familiar with the subject of
the work they were rendering. Occasionally criticism would
be voiced about translators who offered to work without ade-
quate knowledge of the field involved. However, on the whole,
translators were usually conscious of their obligations, and
succeeded in transmitting authentic versions of the originals.
Even in more popular literature, where greater freedom could
be taken since in popular works eloquence was frequently a

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TRANSLATION AND TRANSLATORS

major quality, the Hebrew version, although it may read like an
original, will still be a correct rendering. Abraham ibn Hasdai's
*Ben ha-Melekh ve-ha-Nazir, a beautiful Jewish book in He-
brew, is unmistakably a rendering of Barlaam and Josaphat.
Other popular works translated into Hebrew were *Kalila and
Dimna and Sinbad the Sailor. In this genre, and, for that matter,
in some of the more serious compositions, like Ibn Gabirols
Improvement of the Qualities of the Soul, translators often sub-
stituted Jewish personalities and references for foreign ones,
and even replaced Arabic verses with Jewish equivalents.

Translators generally approached their task with deep
humility. Statements of inadequacy and confessions of igno-
rance, which should have kept them from the undertaking,
are often found in translators' introductions to their works.
Although some of these expressions were undoubtedly pro
forma, many others represent expressions of genuine trepi-
dation with which translators assumed the charge. Samuel
b. Judah of Marseilles, who translated Aristotle's Ethics, ad-
mits openly and sincerely his insufficient acquaintance with
the subject and expresses the hope of studying it in depth to
improve his rendering. Judah b. Nathan, who prepared a He-
brew version of Ghazali's The Intentions of the Philosopher,
frankly describes his inadequate command of the language
and the subject. Yet the results are by and large highly com-
mendable.

Our main source of information about Hebrew transla-
tions is still the monumental work of M. Steinschneider, Die
hebraeischen Uebersetzungen des Mittelalters und die Juden
als Dolmetscher (1893, repr. 1956). The following is a survey
of medieval Hebrew translations of Arabic and Latin works.
It begins with philosophy, and in this field *Aristotle was far
and away the outstanding representative of Greek thought
among Muslim and Jewish thinkers. The latter, who were
mostly unfamiliar with Greek, knew him only through the
Arabic. Two Muslim philosophers are extremely important
for their influence on their Jewish counterparts: Abu al-Nasr
Muhammad al-*Farabi (c. 870-950), known as "the second
teacher" (Aristotle was the first), and Abu al-Walid Muham-
mad ibn Rushd (*Averroes; 1126-1198). The Jewish philoso-
phers knew the views of the Greek master through the com-
mentaries of these two.

The Muslim thinkers, and Maimonides among the Jews,
knew of a compendium of the entire Organon; but in Hebrew
translation, only some parts are to be found: (1) Porphyry's
Isagoge was called Kizzur mi-Kol Melekhet ha-Higgayon by
its translator Moses b. Samuel ibn Tibbon. A fragment of
another version of their Introduction to logic is also extant;
(2) Categoriae Sifrei Maamar ot, in two renderings; (3) Her-
meneutica, in two Hebrew translations, both known to Abra-
ham Avigdor in his commentary on Averroes; (4) Syllogisms,
also in two translations, and an abridgment by Jacob Anatoli;
(5) Analytica Posteriora - Maamar bi-Tenaei ha-Hekkesh ha-
Mofet, anonymous; (6) Topica - Ommanut ha-Nissuah, in two
translations, both anonymous. All of these works in logic are
in al-Farabi's version.

Averroes studied Aristotle's works in three ways: (1) Sum-
maries of the latter's teachings which he himself called Al-
Jawami C al-Sighar (the brief compendia; in Heb. Kizzur).

(2) The Middle Commentaries, which Averroes named Tal-
khis - Be ur or Perush; the Hebrew renderings do not indicate
in each work whether it is from this body, or from the next one.

(3) The Great Commentaries. In these Aristotle's text is offered
in sections, followed in every case by a detailed commentary.
In the ensuing list 1 = The Compendium, 2 = The Middle Com-
mentary, 3 = The Great Commentary. 1. Logic. (1a) Kol Melekhet
ha-Higgayon le-Aristo teles mi-Kizzurei ibn Rushd by Jacob b.
Inaktur, Nov. 10, 1189. (lb) Kizzur Higgayon by Samuel b. Judah
of Marseilles, December 1329. He explains in his introduction
that he undertook it only because the previous one was a poor
performance. (2a) by Jacob b. Abba Mari Anatoli, March 1232.
(2b) Nissuah ve-Hataah by Kalonymus b. Kalonymus, Aries,
1313. (2c) Halazah ve-Shir by Todros Todrosi, Aries, 1337. (3)
Ha-Mofet by Kalonymus b. Kalonymus, December 1314.

11. a. Physics. (1) Ha-Shema ha-Tivi by Moses ibn Tib-
bon. (2a) Ha-Shema by Zerahiah Hen of Barcelona, in Rome,
1284. It is in eight sections (maamarim), divided into prin-
ciples (kelalim), and these into chapters (perakim). (2b) Ha-
Shema by Kalonymus b. Kalonymus, Aries, 1316. (3) Ha-Shema
by Kalonymus b. Kalonymus. It seems that another version
was prepared by Moses b. Solomon.

b. Sefer ha-Shamayim (1) Themistius' paraphrase, by
Zerahiah Hen, Rome, 1284. Averroes' Kelalei ha-Shamayim
veha-Olam was done by Moses ibn Tibbon. (2) by Solomon
b. Joseph ibn Ayyub of Granada, in Beziers, 1259.

c. (1) Ha-Havayah ve-ha-Hefsed, by Moses ibn Tibbon,
1250. (2) by Zerahiah Hen, Rome, 1284. Also by Kalonymus
b. Kalonymus, October 1316.

d. Al-Athar al- c Alawiyya on meteorology. (1) Otot ha-
Shamayim by Samuel ibn Tibbon, 1210. A work by Averroes:
Otot Elyonot was translated into Hebrew by Moses ibn Tib-
bon. (2) Be ur Sefer ha-Otot ha-Elyonot by Kalonymus b. Kal-
onymus, Aries, 1316.

e. Ha-Zemahim 1-2 by Shem Tov ibn Falaquera, and
Kalonymus b. Kalonymus, who did Averroes' commentary,
April 1314.

f. Sefer Baalei-Hayyim, consisting of de Natura Anima-
lium, de Partibus and de Generatione. The last two were trans-
lated by Jacob b. Machir ibn Tibbon, December 1302.

g. On the Soul, translated by Zerahiah Hen in Rome,
1284. Averroes' treatment (1) Kelalei Seferha-Nefesh, by Moses
ibn Tibbon, 1244. (2a) by Shem Tov b. Isaac of Tortosa. (2b)
Be ur Sefer ha-Nefesh by Moses ibn Tibbon, April 1261. (3) Of
the Great Commentary no Hebrew translation is known, but
it was used by Shem Tov Falaquera and was commented on
by Joseph b. Shem Tov. It is also pertinent to mention the trea-
tise of Alexander of Aphrodisias, which in Hebrew is Maamar
Nefesh, translated by Samuel b. Judah of Marseilles in Mur-
cia, November 1323.

h. Of the Parva Naturalia, consisting of de Sensu et Sen-
sato, de Memoria, de Somno, and de Berevitate Vitae, only the

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TRANSLATION AND TRANSLATORS

first was translated as Ha-Hush ve-ha Muhash by Moses ibn
Tibbon, July 1314, in Montpellier.

Metaphysics. Al-Farabi's introduction Kitdb ft Aghrdd
Aristo ft Kitdb ma bad al-Tabfa was rendered anonymously
in Hebrew under the title: B e-Kh aw anot Aristo be-Sifro Mah
she-Akhar ha-Teva. Books alpha-lambda were done from the
Latin by Baruch b. Ya'ish for Samuel Sarfati about 1485. Of
Averroes' treatment, one was presented in Hebrew by Moses
ibn Tibbon in May 1258, a second by Zerahiah Hen, 1284, in
Rome and also by Kalonymus b. Kalonymus in May 1317. The
third is by Moses b. Solomon of Salon in Beaucaire, 1310-20,
of which only Hebrew fragments survive. Themistius' para-
phrase of Book Lambda (12) was translated by Moses ibn Tib-
bon. De Anima plus Averroes' commentary was explained,
and possibly translated by Moses Narboni under the title Ef-
sharut ha-Devekut ba-Sekhel ha-Poel. Three treatises on the
same theme were translated into Hebrew by Samuel ibn Tib-
bon. Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics were rendered in Hebrew
from the Latin by Don Meir b. Solomon Alguadez, Averroes'
middle commentary in Hebrew by Samuel b. Judah of Mar-
seilles, February 1321.

His Politics were never translated into Arabic, although
its existence was known as the practical application of the
principle in the Ethics to the conduct of the state, but it is
Plato's Republic which was available in Arabic under the title
Kitdb al-Siydsa and was translated into Hebrew by Samuel b.
Judah of Marseilles in 1320-22.

Of Aristotle's Economica, a Hebrew version from the Ar-
abic was prepared by David b. Solomon of Seville (1373?), and
probably from the Latin by Leon Aretino. The latter carries an
Introduction by an otherwise unknown Abraham ibn Tibbon.
Several pseudo- Aristotelian works circulated in Hebrew, gen-
erally via Arabic. Of these, Problemata by Moses ibn Tibbon
(1264); on stones - Sefer ha-Avanim or De Lapidario; Theology
by Moses b. Joseph Arovas, from the Arabic, and also in Ital-
ian by him; Secretum secretorum y in Arabic Sirr al-Asrdr y and
in Hebrew, anonymously, Sod ha-Sodot y in the 13 th century; de
CausiSy on the absolute good, by Zerahiah Hen called Ha-Beur
be-Tov ha-Gamur, and also by Hillel b. Samuel of Verona, both
from the Arabic, which is not known (Produs' de Causis was
rendered in Hebrew by Judah Romano, and called Sefer ha-
Sibbot); Kitdb -al-Tuf aha ("On the Apple"; on immorality, and
seen as an imitation of Plato's Phaedo) in Hebrew by Abraham
ibn Hisdai; these are also letters which he sent to Alexander

■

the Great, and works on auguring.

Muslim thinkers who wrote in Arabic, and whose works
were translated into Hebrew, include al-Farabi: Fi al-TanbiH
aid Sabll al-Sddda is rendered in Hebrew, Ha-Hearah al-
Derekh ha-Hazlahah y by an anonymous translator; Kitab al-
Mabddi or al-Siydsa was translated by Moses ibn Tibbon, and
named Sefer ha-Hathalah; Ihsa al-Ulum (an enumeration of
the sciences), in Hebrew, by Kalonymus b. Kalonymus, Be-
Mispar ha-Hokhmot; c Uyun al-Masail (answers to philosophi-
cal problems), in Hebrew Ayin Mishpat ha-Derushim by To-
dros Todrosi; Kalonymus b. Kalonymus did Iggeret be-Siddur

Kr 1 at ha-Hokhmot from the Arabic/! ma Yanbaght an Yaqdum
qabla Tdallum al-Falsafa; Ba-Sekhel u-va-Muskal from ft al-
c Aql wa al-M c aqul; the last was also translated anonymously
as Ha Sekhel ve-ha-muskalot. Risdlaft Haydt al-Nafs was done
in Hebrew by Zerahiah Hen, in 1284, Ibn Sina (Avicenna,
d. 1037), accepted by orthodox Islam, wrote al-Sama wa al-
c Alam, translated into Hebrew as Ha-Shamayim ve-ha-Olam,
by Solomon b. Moses of Melgueil (second half of 13 th cen-
tury), probably from Latin; Sefer ha-Shenah ve-ha-Yekzah by
the same, again from Latin; al-Najdt, translated as Hazzalat
ha-Nefesh by Todros Todrosi (1330-40); Hai ibn Yaqzan, in
Hebrew Iggeret Hai ben Mekiz by Abraham ibn Ezra.

Al-*GhazalI (d. 1111), the famous critic of philosophy,
wrote Maqdsid al-Faldsifa ("The Objectives of the Philoso-
pher"; it was cribbed by Saadiah b. Daud al- c Adeni under the
title Zakdt al-Nafs) which was adopted by Isaac al-Balagh
(only the first two parts) and called Debt ha-Pilosofim. A
translation, Kavvanot ha-Pilosofim y was prepared (1352-58) by
Judah b. Nathan, a Provencal physician. A third anonymous
version also exists. His Tahdfut al-Faldsifa ("The Collapse of
the Philosophers") was translated into Hebrew, by Zerahiah
b. Isaac ha- Levi, called Saladin, and possibly the Rabbi Ferrer
of the Tortosa disputation (1412-14). Miyar al- c Ilm is Moznei
ha-Iyyunim by Jacob b. Machir ibn Tibbon; Mizdn al- c Amal y
an ethical work, done by Abraham b. Samuel ibn Hasdai and
called Moznei Zedek. Mishkatt al-Anwar ("The Niche of the
Lights") is Maskit ha-Orot by Isaac b. Joseph al-Fasi, of the
13 th century. Another, but anonymous, rendering is called
Ha-Orot ha-Elohiyyot.

Abdallah ibn Muhammad of Badajoz (d. 1127) wrote al-
Daira al-Wahmiyya ("The Imaginary Circle") a work which
was quite influential among Jewish thinkers. Moses ibn Tibbon
rendered it into Hebrew, calling it Ha-Agullot ha-Rdyoniyyot.
It was also done by Samuel Motot, as part of his commentary
on Sefer Yezirah. Ibn Baja (d. 1138 in Fez) wrote Kitdb al-Wadd c
("The Farewell" [to the world]) which was converted into He-
brew by Hayyim ibn Vivas, and/! Tadbir al-Mutaw ahhid (on
the conduct of the recluse) which is Be-Hanhagat ha-Mit-
bodedy by Moses of Narbonne who wrote a commentary on it.
Ibn Tufayl (d. 1185 in Murcia) composed a celebrated Risdlat
Hayy ben Yaqzdn y in Hebrew Iggeret Hayawan ben Yakson y
it was also incorporated by Moses of Narbonne in his com-
mentary. Ibn Rushd (Averroes, d. 1198) wrote an exposition of
the harmony of religion and philosophy called Fasl al-Maqdl
etc., which was translated into Hebrew, anonymously, under
the name Ha-Hevdel ha-Neemar she-Bein ha-Torah ve-ha
Hokhmah min ha-Devekut. He refuted Ghazali's critique of
philosophy in his Tahdfut al-Tahdfut ("The Collapse of the
Collapse"); its Hebrew version, Happalat ha-Happalah y was
prepared by Kalonymus b. David b. Todros. A second render-
ing, anonymous, is also extant.

Since a number of Jewish thinkers wrote their works in
Arabic, they also required conversion into Hebrew. The earliest
is Isaac Israeli. Among his philosophic writings are Kitdb al-
Hudud wa al-Rusum ("Book of Definitions"), in Hebrew, Sefer

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TRANSLATION AND TRANSLATORS

ha-Gevulim ve-ha-Reshamim by Nissim b. Solomon; Kitdb al-
Ustuqsdt as Sefer ha-Yesodot by Abraham ibn Hisdai; Maqala
fi-Yishersku ha-Mayim, in an anonymous Hebrew version;
Sefer ha-Ruah ve-ha-Nefesh, only a small fragment of the Ar-
abic original is extant. Saadiah b. Joseph al-Fayyumi (d. 942)
composed Kitdb al-Amdndt wa al-Ttiqdddt, called in Hebrew
Sefer ha-Emunot ve-ha Debtby Judah ibn Tibbon. An anony-
mous version titled Pitron Sefer ha-Emunot is also extant. His
commentary on Sefer Yezirah is likewise found in Hebrew, but
the translator is not known with certainty.

Bahya ibn Paquda composed the ethical-philosophical,
Para id al-Qulub; in Hebrew it is Hovot ha-Levavot translated
by Judah ibn Tibbon, who also appended an interesting in-
troduction to his translation.

Solomon ibn Gabirol wrote a philosophic rather than a
theological study, whose Arabic original has not been discov-
ered. No medieval Hebrew translation exists (one is extant in
Latin), but an epitome, Likkutim, prepared by Shem Tov ibn
Falaquera, is extant. A modern Hebrew version is now avail-
able. Other works Ibn Gabirol rendered into Hebrew included
Isldh al-Akhldq ("The Improvement of the Character") trans-
lated by Judah ibn Tibbon as Tikkun Middot ha-Nefesh, and
a collection of aphorisms, probably by the same translator,
under the title Mivhar ha-Peninnim. Another version, in the
rhyme, Shekel ha-Kodesh y was the work of Joseph Kimhi. Jo-
seph ibn Zaddik, a judge in Cordoba (d. 1149), wrote al- c Alam
al-Saqhir ("Microcosm"), which is Ha-Olam ha-Katan in He-
brew, but the translator is unknown.

Judah Halevi (d. 1141) is the author of Kitdb al-Hujja wa
al-Dalil ("The Argument and Proof"), known as Ha-Kuzari
in Judah ibn Tibbons Hebrew rendering. A fragment is also
extant of a translation by Judah b. Kardena. Abraham ibn
Daud, the earliest Aristotelian among Jewish thinkers, wrote
al- c Aqida al-Rafi c a, on free will and other matters. It was trans-
lated as Ha-Emunah ha-Nissaah by Samuel ibn Motot in 1312,
and as Ha-Emunah ha-Ramah by Solomon b. Levi. Moses Ibn
Ezra wrote a work of literary criticism, Kitdb al-Muhadara
wa al-Mudhdkara (which is called Shir at Yisrael in a modern
Hebrew version by B. Halper, or Sefer ha-Iyyunim ve-ha-Di-
yyunim by A.S. Halkin), and PiMdna al-Majdz wa al-Haqiqa
("On Literalisms and Figurative Expressions"), part of which
was rendered into Hebrew as Arugat ha-Bosem.

Many of the works of Maimonides were rendered in
Hebrew translation. Of his commentary on the Mishnah,
Judah al-Harizi translated the general introduction and most
of Zera'im; Joseph ibn al-Fawwal and a certain Simhah did
Moed and Nashim in Huesca; the remaining three were done
in Saragossa by Solomon ibn Yaqub (Nezikin) and Nethanel
ibn Almali (Kodashim and Tohorot). There are also fragments
of other translations. Avot was done by Samuel ibn Tibbon.
Maimonides' Sefer ha-Mitzvot, listing the 613 biblical pre-
cepts, was rendered into Hebrew by Abraham ibn Hisdai,
of which only fragments exist, and by Moses ibn Tibbon. A
third version exists by Solomon ibn Ayyub. His epistle on
forced conversion was titled Iggeret ha-Shemad in Hebrew;

the translator is unknown; his Iggeret Teiman exists in three
Hebrew versions: (a) by Samuel ibn Tibbon; (b) by Abraham
ibn Hisdai; (c) by Nahum ha-Ma'aravi; his treatise on resur-
rection, Mdamar Tehiyyat ha-Metim y by Samuel ibn Tibbon.
His major philosophic composition, Daldlat al-Hairin y was
translated by Samuel ibn Tibbon and also by Judah al-Harizi.
His treatise on logic, Maqala fl Sind c at al-Mantiq y is available
in Hebrew, probably from Moses ibn Tibbons hand, as Mil-
lot ha-Higgayon.

Joseph b. Judah ibn Aknin wrote a philosophic commen-
tary on the Songs of Songs, which he called Inkishdf al-Asrdr
wa Tuhur al- Anwar. It was recently translated into Hebrew. Of
Karaite thinkers, Joseph al-Basir's two works were provided
with a Hebrew translation: Al-Muhtawi was translated under
the title Sefer ha-Ne } imot y and Kitdb al-Tamyiz, received by the
Hebrew name Mahkimot Peti.

Books by Christians which are available in Hebrew
translation include Quaestiones naturale by Adelard of Bath
(c. 1120), which is Dodi ve-Nekhdi y by Berechiah ha-Nakdan;
Philosophia of Albertus Magnus (1193-1286) is in a Hebrew
version titled Kizzur ha-Pilosofyah ha-Tivit by Abraham Sha-
lom, and Aegidius de Columnas' (d. 1306) De Regimine Princi-
pum, in Hebrew Hanhagat ha-Melakhim. The De Consolationes
Philosophiae of Boethius (d. 524) was translated into Hebrew
by Samuel b, Benveniste and called Menahem Meshiv Nafshi y
and again by Azariah b. Abba Mari under the name Nehamot
ha-Pilosofyah. Other scholastics whose works were trans-
lated are Occam (d. 1343/7) whose Summa totius y in Hebrew
Perakim ba-Kolel y was translated by Eli Habillo, who called
himself Don Manuel. Petrus Hispanus (d. 1276) wrote Parva
Logicalia y a work quite popular among Jews, as can be judged
from the several renderings: (a) Higgayon Kazar by Abraham
Avigdor; (b) Higgayon by Judah b. Samuel Shalom; (c) Trat-
tat y anonymous; Be ur ha-Mavo by Jehezekiah b. Halafta. Rai-
mund Lull (d. 1215) created an Ars Parva from his Ars Magna,
the former was rendered into Hebrew by several translators as
Melakhah Kezarah. Many of Thomas Aquinas' works, particu-
larly the philosophic treatises and commentaries, were made
available in Hebrew.

The Jews in the Islamic world were deeply interested in
mathematics, first, because of its intrinsic challenge, and sec-
ondly, because of its use in astronomy and astrology, which
had important practical and religious implications. As in phi-
losophy, so in science, the pursuits of the Greek scientists were
eagerly studied. Archimedes' work on cylinders was translated
by Kalonymus b. Kalonymus under the title Ba-Kaddur u-va
Iztevanah from Costa ibn Lucca's Arabic version. Kalonymus
also provided a Hebrew version of the measurement of cir-
cles, Bi-Meshihat ha-Agullah; from Thabit b. Karras' Arabic.
Euclid was the representative of the Greeks. His Kitdb al-Usul
or al-Ustuqsdt y in 12 books, augmented by two more of Hyp-
sicles, was rendered by Moses ibn Tibbon in 1270. Another
version called Yesodot ve-Shorashim was made by Jacob b.
Machir about 1270. Other Hebrew texts also exist, possibly
from the Latin, for example, his Data in Sefer ha-Mattanot

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TRANSLATION AND TRANSLATORS

by Jacob b. Machir. The Optics, bi-Khtildf al-Manathir, and
Hillufha-Mabbatim in Hebrew, was also the work of Jacob b.
Machir. In the Hebrew manuscript Sefer ha-Marim of Euclid
follows the preceding work. But the Arabs know only a Kitab
al-Mira by Aristotle. A book of Menelaus of Alexandria (first
century; Ar. Kitab al-Ashkdl al-Kurriyya) was translated into
Hebrew by Jacob b. Machir and called Sefer Mileus ba-Temu-
not ha-Kadduriyyot.

Ptolemy of Alexandria (d. 150), known to Jews and Arabs
as Betolomaus, is the author of Elmegiste, which was trans-
lated into Hebrew as Hibbur ha-Gadol by Jacob Anatoli. The
introduction to Elmegiste was turned into Hebrew as Hokhmat
ha-Kokhavirriy or Hokhmat Tekhunah ha-Kezarah by Moses
ibn Tibbon. His Hypotheses was rendered by Kalonymus
b. Kalonymus in 1317 under the title Be-Sippur Inyenei ha-
Kokhavim ha-Nevukhim. Several works ascribed to Ptolemy
also circulated, among them the Astrolabe, called Maaseh
ha-Azterolav by Solomon Sharvit ha-Zahav (14 th century),
and Planispherium, called Mofetei Kelei ha-Habbatah, prob-
ably from the Latin.

Muslim mathematician and astronomer Jabir ibn Aflah's
Kitab al-Haya, which was translated into Hebrew by Moses
ibn Tibbon, is identical with the alleged Elmegiste in nine
books, completed in 1274. His Sector of Menelaus is Ha-Hibbur
ba-Temunah ha-Hitukhit le-Mileus; the translator is not known
with certainty. Abu Batir s De Nativitatibus was rendered into
Hebrew as Sefer ha-Moladot by Ishaq abu al-Khayr from the
Latin in 1498. Averroes' Compendium is Kizzur Elmegiste by
Jacob Anatoli in 1231. Abu Ishaq al-Bitrinji of Seville com-
posed Kitab fl al-Haya, Maamar ba-Tekhunah in Hebrew
by Moses ibn Tibbon. Costa ibn Lucca's Al-Amal bial-kurra
al-Nujumiyya was translated by Jacob b. Machir as Sefer ha-
Maaseh be-Khaddur ha-Galgol. Ahmed al-Ferghani (d. 833/
844) wrote Jawami c al-Nujum which is Yesodot ha-Tekhunah
by Jacob Anatoli (the title is not his). Muhammad al-Hassar
composed an arithmetic which he named Al-Bayan wa al-
Tidhkar, and it is available in the Hebrew translation of Moses
ibn Tibbon as Heshbon. Ibn Haitham's Qawlfl Hayat-Alam
was translated as Sefer ha-Tekhunah by Jacob b. Machir in
1271, and by Solomon ibn Fatir ha-Kohen in 1322. Abu Yusuf
al-Kindi's astrological work on the new moon was prepared
in Hebrew by Kalonymus b. Kalonymus as Iggeret be-Kizzur
ha-Maamar ba-Moladot. His Iggeret ha-Maspeket ba-la-Hiyyut
u-va-Matar exists in an anonymous translation. Ja c far Abu
Ma c shar (d. 885/6 at the age of 100) wrote Al-Madkhal al-
Kabir, which was translated into Hebrew from the Latin un-
der the name Mavo ha-Gadol me-Hokhmat ha-Tekhunah by
Jacob b. Elijah. Another work of his is Sefer Kazar be-Mivhar
Liabi Mdshar by an anonymous translator from the Arabic
al-Ikhtiyarat. The astronomical Tables, by an unknown Mus-
lim, were translated into Hebrew by Abraham ibn Ezra and
called Taamei Luhot al-Khwarizmi. Ibn Muadhs discussion
of the solar eclipse of 1079, was converted into Hebrew by
Samuel b. Judah of Marseilles (1320-40), who also translated
Ibn Muadhs treatise on the Dawn, as Iggeret be-Ammud ha-

Shahar. Kitab al-Amal bi al-Asturlab by Ahmad ibn al-Saffar
was rendered into Hebrew as Perush ha-Azterolab by Jacob
b. Machir. Kalonymus b. Kalonymus translated Abu 1-Qasim
ibn Samh's work under the title Maamar ba-Iztevanot u-va-
Mehudadim. Abu al-Kamil Shuja of Egypt (900-950) com-
posed Thar a if al-Hisab, and it was translated from the Latin
into Hebrew by Mordecai Finzi of Manta (1344-1375). Thabit
b. Qurra (d.901) composed Kitab al-Shakl al-Qata. Its Hebrew
version, Sefer ha-Temunah ha-Hittukhit, is by Kalonymus b.
Kalonymus. Ibrahim al-Nakkush ibn al-Zarkala (1061-80)
composed al-Saflha al-Zarkaliya, which was done in Hebrew
by an unknown translator under the title Iggeret ha Maaseh
ba-Luah ha-Nikra Safiha. Another work by this author, on the
fixed stars, was translated by Samuel b. Judah of Marseilles and
called Maamar bi-Tenuat ha-Kokhavim ha-Kayyamim.

A few Jewish astronomers wrote in Arabic, and their
works required translation. Mashalla (d. 820) wrote an astro-
logical study, which Abraham ibn Ezra translated under the
title Sheelot. He also translated Mashalla's work on eclipses
which in Hebrew is called Be-Kadrut ha-Levanah ve-ha-
Shemesh ve-Hibbur ha-Kokhavim u-Tekufat ha-Shanim. Sahl
ibn Bishr (d. c. 820) compiled a book of principles of astrology,
Kitab al-Ahkam. Rendered into Hebrew by an unknown trans-
lator, it is called Kelalim. Maimonides' treatise on the calendar
is translated by an unknown scholar as Hibbur be-Hokhmat
ha-Ibbur. Joseph ibn Nahmias' astronomical study, Nur al-
c Alam, was rendered into Hebrew by an unknown translator
as Ha-Shamayim ha-Hadashim. The astronomical tables of
Joseph ibn Wakkar were also done in Hebrew.

The Alphonsine Tables, prepared by the Jew Yishak ibn
Cid in 1265, for the Christian astronomer Alphonse, have
been rendered into Hebrew, as have other tables, with ad-
justed dates. Gerard of Sabionetta wrote a Thearica Planeta-
rum which, in the Hebrew of Judah b. Samuel Shalom, is Iyyun
Shivah Kokhevei Lekhet. Hermanus Contractus (d. 1054) pro-
duced de Mensura Astrolabu, which in Hebrew is called Sefer
ha-Azteroblin, and, in another version, Sefer Astrolog. Both
translators are unknown. John of Gmund (d. 1417) is the au-
thor of a treatise on the stars which David b. Meir Kalonymus
translated into Hebrew and called Marot ha-Kokhavim. Ales-
sandro Piccolomini (d. 1578) composed La Spera del Mondo
and Speculazione dei Pianete. In Hebrew they are respectively
Sefer ha-Kidor and lyyunei Kokhevei ha-Nevokhah in the trans-
lations of an unknown author. Dioscorides (first cent, c.e.)
compiled a work on Simplicia in which Hisdai ibn Shaprut
participated in translating into Arabic; no Hebrew version
is known, except for passages in the medical work of the so-
called Asaf. His Succeda Nea was translated from the Latin by
Azariah Bonafoux under the title Temurat ha-Sammim. Nu-
merous writings of Galen were available in Hebrew. Ars Parva
(Techne) was rendered from the Arabic as Ha-Meassef le-khol
ha-Mahanot by an unknown scholar. Four of his smaller works
on illnesses, their cause and symptoms, were combined in the
Hebrew of Zerahiah Hen (1277) under the heading Sefer ha-
Holdim ve-ha-Mikrim. Zerahiah Hen also translated the Kata-

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TRANSLATION AND TRANSLATORS

genoSy which deals with compound medicines. Galen's work
on crises, al-Buhrdn in Arabic, was made available in Hebrew
under the Arabic name by Bonirac (perhaps Boniac) Solomon
(c. 1300-1350). On Blood Letting was rendered by Kalonymus
b. Kalonymus (1308) as Sefer ha-Hakazah. Kalonymus also
translated Ba-Huknah u-va Kulang ("on enema and colic").
The author s treatise on epilepsy was rendered in Hebrew by
an unknown translator under the title Be-Hanhagat ha-Naar
Nikhpeh, and his De Malitia Complexionis Diver sae was ren-
dered in Hebrew from the Latin by David b. Abraham Caslari
(1280-1337) an d called Sefer Rod Mezeg Mithallef The Com-
pendia (Ar. al-Jawdmi c ) was converted into Hebrew by Sam-
son b. Solomon (1332). Many smaller tracts of his were also
made available in Hebrew, all, of course, from the Arabic or
the Latin. Some writings ascribed to Galen are Sefer ha-Em
("Gynaecaeas") and Sefer Issur ha-Kevurah (on prohibition of
burial before 72 hours after death) fl Tahrim al-dafn.

Hippocrates, the father of Greek medicine, was known to
the medieval Jews, through the Arabs, by his aphorisms, Kitdb
al-Fusul, translated by Moses ibn Tibbon as Perakim. This
work was also translated by an unknown scholar and by Na-
than ha-Me'ati, in 1283. Hillel b. Samuel of Verona prepared a
Hebrew version of it from the Latin with the title Maamar ha-
Rofeim y and another version under the name Agur y again from
the Latin, was made by an unknown translator. Hippocrates'
Prognostica with Galen's comments and titled Hakdamat ha-
Yediah, was probably translated by Nathan ha-Me'ati. It also
exists as Hidot ve-Hashgahot y evidently rendered from Greek
and Latin by an unknown translator. His work on acute ill-
nesses, Hanhagat ha-Holdim ha-Haddim, was translated by
Nathan ha-Me'ati, and by his grandson Samuel b. Solomon.
Hippocrates' study of air, water, and places, Sefer ha-Avirim
u-va-Zemannim ve-ha-Memot ve-ha-Arazot - was rendered

■

by Nathan ha-Me'ati, and Galen's commentary on it, in He-
brew, is the work of Solomon b. Nathan in 1299. A book, Ma-
rot ha-Sheten ("on the color of urine"), ascribed to the Greek
physician, is extant in Hebrew in the translation of Joseph b.
Isaac Yisre'eli.

In Arabic a good deal was produced on medicine, and
much of it was rendered into Hebrew. The celebrated transla-
tor of Galen, Hunayn ibn Ishaq, himself a physician, compiled
an introduction, Madkhal fl-al-Tibb y which exists in Hebrew
as Mavo or Sheelot translated from the Latin by Moses ibn
*Tibbon and two anonymous scholars called Mavo. Masawayh
(d. 857) wrote medical curiosities, al-Nawddir al-Tibbiyya y
translated into Hebrew as Hearot min ha-Refuah by an un-
known scholar, and Isldh al-Adwiya al-Mushila ("on laxatives")
rendered into Hebrew as Me-ha-Ezah ve-ha-Tevdim ve-ha-
Tena'im by Samuel b. Jacob (end of 13 th century), and also by
an unknown scholar. There is an antidotary by Masawayh,
Aqrdbadhin y of which three or four anonymous versions are
in existence. Muhammad al-Razi (d. 932/3), one of the fa-
mous Muslim writers on medicine, wrote al-Mansuri y a gen-
eral work in ten tracts, which was translated by Shem Tov b.
Isaac Tartasi (d. 1264), and was later abridged. His Aegritudine

junctuarum (Me-Holyei ha-Hibburim), de Aegritudinibus pu-
erorum (Me-Hanhagat ha-Nearim ha-Ketannim) are both by
unknown translators from the Latin, the latter being a more
literal translation than Me-Holi ha-Nearim ke-fi Rdzi. Pirkei
Razi y 119 short aphorisms, is an anonymous translation from
Arabic, as is also Sefer ha-Pesakot. A compendium, Liber Di-
visionum y was translated by Moses ibn Tibbon as Ha-Hilluk
ve-ha-Hilluf; he also translated Al-Razis antidotary in 1257; of
the latter an anonymous version also exists. Al-Razi's expla-
nation of why people go to charlatans, Ba-Meh she-Yikreh bi-
Melekhet ha-Refuah y is perhaps the work of Nathan ha-Me'ati.
There is an anonymous Maamar be-Hakkazah y and, from the
Latin, Mi-Segullat Evrei Baalei Hayyim ve-Tealiyyotam ve-Hez-
zekam ("on limbs and organs of living beings"). Ibn Sina (Avi-
cenna) is the author of the standard medical textbook of the
late Middle Ages. His Canon, al-Qdnun y was translated by Na-
than ha-Me'ati, although the manuscripts do not include the
rendering of the whole. Zerahiah Hen also worked on a trans-
lation of the Canon y but only the first two books are known.
Of Joseph ha-Lorki's rendering (before 1402) only book one
and part of book two are extant. Avicenna's al-Qdnum al-
Saghir was translated by Moses ibn Tibbon in Montpellier in
1272. Canticum y a medical book in verse (arjuza in Arabic),
was rendered into prose by Moses ibn Tibbon, and, in verse,
by Solomon b. Joseph ibn Ayyub (Sefer ha-Haruzim ha-Nikra
arjuza) , and by Hayyim Israel, and by an unknown scholar of
whose work only a fragment exists. His al-Adwiya al-Qalbi-
yya on cures for heart disorders, is found in two anonymous
Hebrew versions: Ha-Sammim ha-Libbiyyim y and Ha-Refubt
ha-Levaviyyot y the latter from Latin.

c Ammar ibn Ali (d. 1020), an ophthalmologist, wrote al-
Muntakhabfl c Ildj al- c ayn y translated by Nathan ha-Me'ati un-
der the title (not by him) Shetalim ha-Nifradim ha-Mo'ilim la-
Ayin. Ali ibn Ridwan (d. 1068) wrote al-Usul fl-al-Tibb which
Kalonymus b. Kalonymus translated into Hebrew in Aries
in 1307 under the title Ha- c Ammud be-Shorshei ha-Refuah.
His Sharh Kitdb al-Sind c a al-Saghira y on a work by Galen, is
translated as Perush Melakhah Ketannah by Samuel ibn Tib-
bon, done in Beziers in 1199. Another rendering from the
Latin, by Hillel b. Samuel, is called Sefer ha-Tenge. c Ammar's
al-Ustuqsdt y was translated into Hebrew as Perush ba-yesodot
by an unknown scholar. Ahmed al- Jazzar (11 th century) is the
author oial-Ttimdd y on simple cures, which in Hebrew is the
anonymous Sefer ha-Maalot. His Zdd al-Musdfir (viaticum) is
Zeidat ha-Derakhim by Moses ibn Tibbon in 1259, Zeidah la-
Orehim by Abraham b. Isaac, and Ydir Nativ by an unknown
translator. He also wrote on forget fulness, in Hebrew Iggeret
ha-Shikhhah by Nathan ha-Me'ati.

Abu al-Qasim Zahrawi of Spain (11 th century) compiled
al-Tasrif on medical practice, which was rendered into He-
brew by Shem Tov b. Isaac Tartasi (1261-64) and called Sefer
ha-Shimmush. He-Hafez ha-Shalem y a medical compendium,
is the version by Meshullam b. Jonah (1287) of a no longer ex-
tant Arabic original, a compendious work in two tractates and
14 sections. Ibn Soar (d. 1162) wrote al-Taysir fl-al-Muddwdt

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TRANSLATION AND TRANSLATORS

wa al-Tadbir (which in the Hebrew of an unknown translator
is Ha-Helek ha-Kolel) and Kitdb al-Aghdhiya, on foods, which
was converted into Hebrew by Nathan ha-Me ati in about 1275
under the title Sefer ha-Mezonot. His work on the difference
between sugar and honey became in the Hebrew version of
Bon Senior ibn Hisdai Maamar ba-Hevdel bein ha-Devash ve-

ha-Sukkar. Ibn Rushd (Averroes) was both philosopher and
physician. In the latter capacity his work Kitdb Kulliyydtfl-al-
Tibb, a compendium, was titled Klal by Solomon b. Abraham
in his translation, as well as in that of an anonymous translator.
It is also unknown who translated Maqdla fi-al-Teriak, Sim-
plicia, which is called Peshatim be-Rippui Holaei ha-Guf, and
the work on purgatives, titled Shorashim Kolelim. His tract on
diarrhea was translated into Hebrew by Jacob ha-Katan un-
der the title Maamar ha-Shilshul. Among Jewish writers on
medical subjects, Isaac Yisre'eli composed Kitdb al-Adwiya
al-Mufrada wa- al-Aghdhiya, on cures and foods, and it was
rendered into Hebrew by an unknown translator under the
name Sefer ha-Misadim. Likewise anonymous are the three
Hebrew versions of Kitdb al-Bawl ("on urine"); Bi-Ydiat ha-
Sheten, Marot ha-Sheten, and Sefer ha-Shetanim. So are also
the book on fevers, Kitdb al-Hummaydt, in Hebrew Sefer ha-
Kaddahot, and 50 aphorisms, not known in Arabic, called Mu-
sar ha-Rofeim. * Maimonides' writings include fl-al-Bawdsir
("on hemorrhoids") called, in an anonymous Hebrew ver-
sion, Bi-Refuat ha-Tehorim, a work on intercourse fi-al-Jim c a>
translated by Zerahiah Hen and called Maamar ha-Mishgal,
and Fusul Musd, aphorisms, also rendered by Zerahiah and
by Nathan ha-Meati under the title Pirkei Moshe. Moses ibn
Tibbon is the translator of ft al-Sumum ("on poisons") which,
in Hebrew, is called Ha-Maamar ha-Nikhbad. Solomon b.
Yaish (d. 1343) wrote a commentary on ibn Sinas Qdnun, of
which an extract in Hebrew was made by Jacob Kaphanton.
As the Christian West learned the medical knowledge trans-
mitted and composed in Arabic, its physicians also began
to write, generally in Latin. Nicolaus of the Salerno school
of medicine (1150-1200) prepared an Antidotarium which is
known by the same name in the Hebrew rendering of Jacob.
Petrus Hispanus (d. 1276) produced a medical compendium,
Thesaurus pauper um, translated as Ozar ha-Aniyyim in an
anonymous version, and Ozar ha-Dallim in the rendering of
Todros Moses Bondoa, 1394. Lamprandis (d. 1296) Chirurgia
Parva is abridged in an anonymous Hebrew version titled
Alanfr an china, and ha-Yad in Hebrew. Bernard de Gardon is
the author of Lilium Practica, which is called Hokhmah Nish-
lemet bi-Melekhet Medicinae (c. 1305). In the version of Moses
b. Samuel it is titled Perah ha-Refubt ha-Sali, and in that of
Jekuthiel b. Solomon of Narbonne, Shoshan ha-Refuah (1387).
He also wrote Regimen Acutarum Aegritudinum de Phleboto-
mia y and de Medicinarum gradibus y all three of which were
translated anonymously and titled respectively Hibbur be-
Hanhagot ha-Haddot, Ha-Maamar be-Hakkazah y and Sefer
ha-Madregot. Arnaldus of Villanova (d. 1317/18) is the author
of Regimen sanitatis y which in Hebrew is called Maamar be-
Hanhagat ha- Beriut by the translator Israel Kaslari (1327), and

Hanhagot ha-Berxut in the anonymous version. His Arnavdina
is called Practica in Israel Kaslari s version.

Gentile da Foligna (d. 1348) composed a book on prac-
tice, Prattiche, Nisyonot in its anonymous Hebrew version,
and Consilium, which is called Ezah by its Hebrew translator,
probably Joshua of Bologna. Guy de Gauliac, a surgeon in Avi-
gnon (d. 1363), prepared a Chirurgia magna, translated by an
unknown scholar; the beginning and end are unfortunately
missing. He also produced a Chirurgia Parva, translated into
Hebrew by Asher b. Moses (1468), and titled Giddua Kazan
John Jacobi (1366), wrote Secretarius practicus. It is available
in two anonymous Hebrew renderings: Sod ha-Melakhah and
Sod ha-Pratikah. Gerard de Salo composed a commentary
on the ninth book of Al-Razfs al-Mansuri titled in Nomum
mansoris; Abraham Avigdor made an abridged translation,
and Leon Joseph a full one in 1394. His introductarium juve-
num, on the care of the body, was likewise done in Hebrew
by Leon Joseph and called Meishir ha-Mathilim, and his trea-
tise on fever, de Febribus, was translated by Abraham Avig-
dor. Bernard Alberti (1339-58) compiled an Introductarium
in practicam, a collection of prescriptions, done in Hebrew
by Abraham Avigdor under the title Mavo ba-Melakhah. Al-
bertus Magnus is the author of discussions on six needs of
the body, which Moses Habib called Sheelot u-Teshuvot in his
Hebrew version of it.

Jews were interested not only in philosophy and the sci-
ences, but also in what can be called the humanities. They
translated and wrote a good deal of popular literature, and
they also cultivated eloquence, linguistics, and poetry. Men-
tion should be made of the great popularity among them of
all sorts of divinations, called Goralot, including astrology,
mantic, and facial features. Among the foreign creations which
made their way into Hebrew are the fables of Aesop, known as
Hidot Esopito, and Kalila and Dimna by the Indian Bidpai. Its
anonymous Hebrew translation is the source of all European
versions made from its Latin rendering by the convert John
of Capua (1262-78). Another Hebrew text prepared by Jacob
b. Eleazar (d. 1223) is less literal than the other. The story of
a demon who entered a woman and was expelled by a man,
which is found in an Indian source and in the 1001 Nights, is
told in Maamar Midyenei Ishah. Mishlei *Sindabar, the Hebrew
counterpart of the very popular Seven Sages, although origi-
nally of Indian origin, is important as the link which connects
the eastern type of individual and the western type.

The history of Alexander the Great, originating in Cal-
listhenes' Greek story, was popular in Jewish literature from
talmudic times. The medieval Hebrew book, Sefer Alexander
Mokedon ve-Korotov, said to be the work of Samuel ibn Tib-
bon or Judah al-Harizi, is a translation of an Arabic original.
Immanuel b. Jacob did another Toledot Alexander from the
Latin. It should also be noted that sayings gleaned by various
authors were also attractive to Jews, so that books like Sefer
ha-Musar, Mishlei Arav, or Mishlei Anashim ha-Hakhamim,
not to speak of works in which they are introduced en passant,
are all translations from the Arabic, whether from one work

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101

TRANSNISTRIA

or from many. A good example is presented by Ibn Gabirol's
Mivhar ha-Peninnim y discussed above. A work of consola-
tion, allegedly sent to a friend who sustained a loss, is the
Hibbur Yafeh me-ha-Yeshudh by Nissim b. Jacob ibn Shahin
of Kairouan, a Hebrew translation of his Arabic original. The
Maqdmdt of al-Hariri (1054-1121), a literary genre character-
ized by rhymed prose and metrical verse, in which beauty of
language was the major objective, were translated by Judah
al-Harizi under the title Mahbarot Itiel. Abraham ibn Hisdai

■ * *

produced a Hebrew version, called Ben ha-Melekh ve-ha-
Nazir, of an Arabic translation of the original Indian tale of
Barlaam and Josaphat, and Kalonymus b. Kalonymus com-
posed Iggeret Baalei Hayyim y which is a discussion between
men and beasts and is a free rendering of Epistle No. 21 of the
Epistles of the Ikwdn al-Safa.

Hebrew grammar and lexicography attracted the atten-
tion of a number of Jewish writers who were stimulated by the
parallel studies of Arabic, and many of their works were origi-
nally written in Arabic, and only later translated into Hebrew.
The comparative lexicographic study of Judah ibn Quraish
(tenth century) was not translated until modern times. Judah
Hayyuj (early 11 th century) wrote on verbs with quiescent
letters, and geminative verbs. These tracts were first trans-
lated by Moses ha-Kohen Gikatilla as Otiyyot ha-Sefer ve-ha
Meshekh, and later, by Abraham ibn Ezra as Otiyyot ha-Nah,
Baalei ha-Kefel y and ha-Nikkud. The master work of Hebrew
grammar by Jonah ibn Janah, Kitab al-Luma\ was translated
into Hebrew by Judah ibn Tibbon, and the lexicon, Kitab al-
Usul y was translated by Isaac b. Judah, and by Isaac ha-Levi,
both translations going only to the letter lamed. A complete
translation was made by Judah ibn Tibbon in 1171. Ibn Jarah's
shorter work, al-mustalhiq y is called Sefer ha-Hassagah by its
Hebrew translator Obadiah (c. 1300). Judah ibn Bal'am com-
piled a work on Hebrew particles Huruf al-Mddni y rendered
as Otiyyot ha-Inyamim in an anonymous Hebrew version;
and al-Afal Mushtaqqa min al-Asma y a work on verbs de-
rived from nouns, which in its anonymous Hebrew render-
ing is Ha-Pedlim she-Hem mi-Gizrat ha-Shemot. He also is
the author of a short tract on the proper reading of the Bible,
Haddyat al-Qdri\ which was rendered into Hebrew either by
Nethanel b. Meshullam or by Menahem b. Nethanel under the
title Horayat ha-Kore.

Some miscellaneous compositions include halakhic writ-
ings of Hai Gaon (d. 1038) such as al-Buyudt y which was
translated into Hebrew by Isaac b. Reuben and was called
Sefer ha-Mikkah ve-ha-Mimkar y and, in an anonymous He-
brew version Mishpetei ha-Tendim ve-Halvabt y and the book
on oaths which in its anonymous Hebrew translation is titled
Mishpetei Shevubt or Sefer ha-Shevubt. A metrical version
also exists, Shdarei Dinei Mamonot ve-Shdarei Shevubt. Jo-
seph ibn c Aknin, who wrote an introduction to the Talmud
and a book on biblical and talmudic weights and measures,
is represented in Hebrew translation by Mevo ha-Talmud y
perhaps by an Abraham Yerushalmi, and by an anonymous
version Mdamar al ha-Middot. Of Abraham Maimonides'

moralistic and pietistic work Kifdyat al-Abidin y only a short
section was rendered into Hebrew. A work on liturgy, Mitzvot
Zemanniyyot y by Israel Yisreeli, was translated into Hebrew
by Don Shem Tov b. Ardutiel. Of Joseph ibn c Aknin's Tibb al-
Nufus y only the first chapter was translated under the name
Mar p eh ha-Nefashot.

bibliography: Steinschneider, Uebersetzungen (1893, repr.
1956); E. Bevan and C.J. Singer (eds.), Legacy of Israel (1927), 173-314.
add. bibliography: M. Goshen-Gottstein y Medieval Hebrew Syn-
tax and Vocabulary as Influenced by Arabic (Heb., 1951); B.R. Gold-
stein, in: Isis, 72:2 (1981), 237-51; A. Ivry, in: Rencontres de cultures
dans la philosophic medievale (1990), 167-86; J. Lomba, in: Mediae-
valia, Textos e Estudios y 7-8 (1995), 199-220; S. Harvey, in: The Cam-
bridge Companion to Medieval Jewish Philosophy (2003), 258-80; S.
Harvey (ed.), The Medieval Hebrew Encyclopedias of Science and Phi-
losophy (2000); M. McVaugh and L. Ferre, The Tabula Antidotarii of
Armengaud Blasi and Its Hebrew Translation (2000); G. Freudenthal,
in: jqr, 93:1-2 (2002), 29-115.

[Abraham Solomon Halkin / Angel Saenz-Badillos (2 nd ed.)]

TRANSNISTRIA, geographical designation, referring to
the area in the Ukraine situated between the Bug and Dnies-
ter rivers. The term is derived from the Romanian name for
the Dniester (Nistru) and was coined after the occupation of
the area by German and Romanian troops, in World War 11.
Before the war the area had a population of 3,400,000, but in
the course of the occupation it was reduced to 2,250,000, as a
result of the mobilization of men and of mass flights.

Jewish Population

Before 1939 the Jewish population was 300,000 according to
the statistical data of 1926. According to reports of the Nazi
Einsatzkommandos ("action groups") which entered the area
in July 1941 in the wake of the occupying troops, two-thirds
of the local Jewish population had fled the area. However,
there remained local Jews and Jewish refugees, primarily from
neighboring ^Bessarabia; these refugees had fled previously
from the advancing German troops. It must also be assumed
that many local Jews were apprehended while escaping and
were murdered by German troops or by Einsatzkommandos.
In general, Einsatzgruppe "d" under the command of Otto
Ohlendorf, was most active in Transnistria. In the north Ein-
satzkommando "iob," and in the south "iib" were also active.
Their reports contain some information on the murder ac-
tions committed by the units (e.g., in Yampol, Kokina, Mo-
gilev), but the figures given on the local population are far
too low and unrealistic. To illustrate the magnitude of the
murder actions perpetrated by the Nazis: in one town alone,
*Dubossary, on the east bank of the Dniester, two common
graves contained the bodies of 3,500 Jews from Dubossary it-
self and 7,000 from the vicinity, killed in the town after being
rounded up by the Nazis.

Deportations to Transnistria

After its occupation Transnistria became the destination for
deported Romanian Jews. At the end of July 1941, 25,000 Jew-
ish survivors from towns in northern Bessarabia were expelled

102

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TRANSNISTRIA

■Si

43
I

■S.
u

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

103

TRANSNISTRIA

to Transnistria by the Romanians, but they were sent back to
Bessarabia by the Germans, after 4,000 refugees were mur-
dered. Other groups sent to Transnistria wandered about the
area of Mogilev, Skazinets, and Yampol for about two weeks,
before the Romanians agreed to their return. Finally, on Au-
gust 17-18, another 20,500 were readmitted to Bessarabia;
many were shot or thrown into the river, by both German
and Romanian troops.

Systematic deportations began in the middle of Septem-
ber. In the course of the next two months, all the surviving
Jews of Bessarabia and *Bukovina (except for some 20,000
Jews of ^Chernovtsy) and a part of the Jewish population of
the *Dorohoi district of Old Romania, were dispatched across
the Dniester. This first wave of deportations reached 118,847
by mid-November 1941.

Deportations resumed at the beginning of the summer
of 1942, affecting 4,200 Jews from Chernovtsy and 450 from
Dorohoi. A third series of deportations from Old Romania
came in July 1942 affecting Jews who had evaded the forced
labor decrees, as well as their families, Communist sympa-
thizers, and Bessarabian Jews who had been in Old Romania
and Transylvania during the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia
in June 1940, and had asked to be repatriated to their homes.
Of the latter group, 350 Jews were shot to death by *ss troops
on their arrival at Berezovka (in Transnistria).

The Communist sympathizers, among them many social-
ists, were taken to a special concentration camp in Vapnyarka
Transnistria. Some individual deportation orders were di-
rected against Jewish merchants and industrialists accused of
economic sabotage, bribery, and similar "economic crimes."

The Romanian general staff submitted an additional
list of 12,000 Jews who had violated the forced labor laws. In
the meantime, however, the Romanian government policy
changed and the deportation of this group was not imple-
mented; neither did the Romanian government give its con-
sent to Germany's insistence on the deportation of all Roma-
nia's Jews. According to a German source, a total of Romanian
archival sources 146,000 Jews were deported to Transnistria.
In December 1943 the Romanian Ministry of Interior in-
formed its government that 50,741 deportees had survived.

Ghettos and Expulsions

The status of the Jews in Transnistria was determined by a
decree (Nov. 11, 1941) serving to follow up the Tighina Agree-
ment, which expressly referred to the imprisonment of Jews in
ghettos. At the end of the month large numbers of Jews were
dispatched to the northern part of Transnistria. In the south-
ern part they were put into several large ghettos in the Golta
district: 54,000 in Bogdanovka, 12,000 in Domanevka, and
18,000 in Akmechetka. All 48,000 Jews in the Bogdanovka
concentration camp were murdered by Ukrainian police and
local German members of the ss and Sonderkommando R,
on the initiative of Fleischer, the German adviser to the dis-
trict commander. At first, 5,000 sick and maimed Jews were
locked into sheds and burned alive, and in the course of the

following two months the remaining inmates of the camps
were shot to death and their bodies cremated. In January and
February 1942, 18,000 Jews were murdered in the Domanevka
18,000 and Akmechetka. Another 28,000 Jews were murdered
by ss troops and local German police in German villages in
the Berezovka area. By March 1943, only 485 Jews were still
alive in the southern area, between ^Odessa and Mogilev; of
these 60 were in Odessa itself. When Odessa was taken, by
Romanian troops in October 1941, 25,000 Jews were killed on
the personal orders of Antonescu after a Russian-made time
bomb exploded in a building housing high-ranking Roma-
nian officers. The rest of the Jews of the city were driven out.
Members of the local Ukrainian militia participated in the
murder though in many cases Ukrainians provided Jews with
food and hideouts. The deportees from Bessarabia, Bukovina,
and Dorohoi were sent to the northern part of Transnistria. At
first they wandered from place to place, as some of the towns
refused to accept them. Some groups from southern Bukov-
ina had money and bribed the local authorities for the right
to stay (e.g., in Mogilev). In some cases entire communities
were expelled as a group together with the community lead-
ers, e.g., the communities of *Radauti and *Suceava; the lat-
ter also saved the community's funds with which they man-
aged to obtain better living conditions. In some instances the
deportees took it upon themselves to repair local factories
in ruins - as in the case of the sugar factory in Vindiceni. In
Mogilev, where the local Romanian authorities at first refused
a residential permit to the deportees, a group of 500 Jewish
deportees successfully undertook repairs of the local electric
power station and a local foundry; they established a repair
workshop for automobiles, and were generally useful in the
rehabilitation of the city. In some of the towns - *Shargorod,
Dzhurin, and Mogilev - Jewish committees were set up com-
prising community leaders from Romania and representatives
of the local Jewish population. In other places the Romanians
themselves appointed local Jewish committees and forced
them to collaborate with the regime. After the war some of
the latter committees were brought to trial by both the Rus-
sians and the Romanians on charges of harshly dealing with
the deportees. On the other hand, others, especially former
leaders of their communities, sacrificed themselves for the
welfare of the refugees.

In places where the local Jews still survived, the deport-
ees received shelter in homes or in those synagogues which
had not been destroyed. Jewish refugees from the Ukraine
(who had crossed the Bug River) were hidden by local Jews
or by the deportees from Romania. In some cases the local
committees provided them with forged identification docu-
ments. The first winter (1941-42) was extremely harsh, with
temperatures dropping to 40 c below zero. Many died of cold
or starved to death. The bodies of the dead accumulated in
the cemeteries until the spring, when graves could be dug for
them. Various epidemics, such as typhus and dysentery, also
claimed tens of thousands of victims. In Dzhurin, Shargorod,
and Mogilev the local committees succeeded in organizing the

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ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TRANSNISTRIA

internal life of the refugee communities. In some ghettos the
committees established public kitchens, hospitals, orphan-
ages, bakeries, and soap factories, and organized sales coop-
eratives. All this helped make life more bearable. Post offices
were organized by a number of Jewish committees, and a reg-
ister of deaths and births was kept. Jewish police detachments
were formed, but these not infrequently became a tool in the
hands of the occupation power, who used them for drafting
men and women for forced labor. Improved internal organi-
zation controlled epidemics. In the second winter (1942-43)
only four out of 25 patients died in an epidemic in the town
of Shargorod, as compared to 1,400 the year before. The doc-
tors among the deportees vigorously combated the epidemics,
and many died in the execution of their task. In those camps
where no internal organization was created, the mortality rate
reached almost 100%.

The Jews were completely at the mercy of the local au-
thorities. Their situation was especially grave in the area ad-
joining the Bug River, as from time to time the Germans
crossed the west bank to use Jews for forced labor on the other
side of the river. At Pechora, a sign at the camp entrance iden-
tified it as a "death camp." There were several German raids
from across the Bug, and in the fall of 1942, 1,000 Jews were
dragged across the river. In the camp at *Bar, which was over
the Bug River and in German occupied territory 12,000 Jews
were put to death on Oct. 20, 1942. The people who had been
taken to eastern Ukraine for forced labor were put to death
as soon as their job was done, while those who were unable
to work were instantly murdered. The head of the *Tulchin
district was particularly efficient in handing Jews over to the
Germans, especially to the Todt Organisation. Tens of thou-
sands were murdered in the second deportation to the Ger-
man-administered territories beyond the Bug, in such places
as *Gaisin, Krasnopolye, and Trihati. In the spring of 1942 the
Romanians initiated the deportation of several thousand Jews
to the other side of the Bug, in order to dispose of them; this
however, did not fit in with * Eichmann's overall plans for the
"Final Solution" and he protested to the German Foreign Of-
fice; as a result, the Jews were returned to Transnistria where
some of them were murdered. The special camp at Vapnyarka
for Communist sympathizers fed the prisoners poisoned
beans which caused paralysis and death.

Aid Operations

From the very beginning, Jewish leaders and institutions in
Bucharest made efforts to provide help to the deportees. In
December 1941 the Council of Romanian Jewish Commu-
nities received permission from Antonescu to extend aid to
the refugees. The special central committee established for
this purpose collected money and contributions in kind, and
dispatched financial aid, clothing, and medicines to the refu-
gees. Other sources of help were provided by the Joint and the
Zionist Organization and by special committees established
by natives of the deported communities who were residents
of Old Romania.

The central aid committee was finally granted permission
in 1943 to send a delegation to visit the area. The papal nuncio,
Monsignor Andrea Cassulo, visited Transnistria from April 27
to May 5, 1943, and an International Red Cross mission arrived
there in December of that year. Jewish leaders in Bucharest
established contact with Jewish organizations abroad, and
obtained financial aid for the deportees from the American
Jewish * Joint Distribution Committee, the Rescue Commit-
tee of the Zionist Organization, the World Jewish Congress,
and ose. In the first two years, 500,000,000 lei were spent in
aid to the Jews in Transnistria, of which about 160,000,000
was spent in cash and the rest provided salt, coal, glasspanes,
wood, medicines, and equipment for artisans.

In February 1944, as a result of Cassulo s visit, the pope
donated 1,300,000 lei to alleviate the conditions of the Jews
of Transnistria.

Rescue and Assistance

At the first reports of deportations to Transnistria, W. Filder-
mann made efforts to stop the deportations and, failing in
this, tried to alleviate the refugees' plight. A secret committee
was formed in Bucharest, with both Fildermann and Zionist
leaders participating. The committees major purpose was to
put a stop to the deportations. In November 1941 it persuaded
Antonescu not to deport 20,000 Jews considered essential for
the smooth functioning of the city. In the spring of 1942, as
a result of German pressure, 4,000 of the remaining Jews of
Chernovtsy were also deported. The deportation of the Jews of
Southern Transylvania was canceled during the fall of 1942 for
reasons yet to be understood; this deportation was intended to
be the first stage in the deportation of all the Jews of Romania
to the death camps in Poland. One factor was the protests of
foreign diplomats, such as the ambassadors of neutral coun-
tries and the papal nuncio, and of the representatives of the
International Red Cross, leaders of the Romanian Church,
the queen mother Helena, and leaders of Romanian political
parties. This intervention, along with the turning tide of the
war, prompted the Romanian government in November 1942
to enter into negotiations with Jewish leaders in Bucharest on
the return of the deportees and the emigration to Palestine of
75,000 survivors.

In March 1943 a selection commission was sent to
Transnistria by the Romanian government. In April Anto-
nescu approved the repatriation of 5,000 orphaned children,
and of persons who had been "innocently" deported. As early
as December 1942 the German Foreign Ministry, the German
minister in Bucharest, Manfred von Killinger, and Eichmann's
representative, Gustav Richter, protested against any decisions
to repatriate Romanian Jews from Transnistria. In March 1943
Eichmann informed *Himmler of the planned emigration of
Jewish orphans from Transnistria to Palestine and asked the
German Foreign Ministry to prevent it.

In the spring of 1943 Fildermann, who in the meantime
had himself been deported to Transnistria, called upon the
Romanian government to permit the return of all the de-

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105

TRANSOXIANA

portees. By mid- December 1943 the first group, consisting
of 1,500 Jews from Dorohoi were allowed to go back to their
homes. Repatriation was stopped at the end of January 1944,
but the secret committee persevered and in March a group of
1,846 orphans, out of a total of 4,500, arrived in Jassy. Earlier,
in February 1944, the chief rabbi of Palestine, Isaac * Herzog,
appealed to the papal nuncio in Istanbul, Monsignor Roncalli
(later Pope *John xxin), to ensure the safety of the Transnis-
tria deportees, now threatened by the withdrawing German
armies. Roncalli transmitted this request to Monsignor Cas-
sulo, the nuncio in Bucharest. On March 15, 1944, the Soviet
armies crossed the Bug. Within five days they advanced north-
ward up to the Dniester. A Jewish commission from Bucharest
had in the meantime arrived in the south and arranged for the
repatriation of 2,518 Jews in the towns of *Tiraspol and *Balta
to Romania. On their arrival in Romania, 563 deportees from
the Vapnyarka camp were seized by the Romanians and sent
to the Targu-Jiu concentration camp in the western part of
the country. The Transnistria deportations resulted in 88,294
deaths, out of a total of 146,555 persons deported. At least an-
other 175,000 persons among the local Jewish inhabitants of
Transnistria also fell victim to the Holocaust.
See also * Romania.

bibliography: A. Dallin, Odessa 1941-1944; a Case Study of
Soviet Territory under Foreign Rule (1957), 45-110; M. Carp, Cartea
Neagrd, 3 (1947); pk Romanyah, 349-86, bibl. 386-8; J.S. Fisher,
The Forgotten Cemetery (1970). add. bibliography: J. Ancel,
Transnistria, 1941-1943: The Romanian Mass Murder Campaigns
(2003); R. Ioanid, Holocaust in Romania: The Destruction of Jews and
Gypsies under the Antonescu Regime, 1940-1944 (2000).

[Theodor Lavi]

TRANSOXIANA, ancient region of central Asia, between
the Oxus and Jaxartes rivers, known to the Arabs as Ma- War-
an-Nahr ("beyond the river"). In the medieval period it was
divided into several provinces, one being Khwarizm, with its
two capitals Khiva and Urgench, and another Soghd, with
the two capitals * Samarkand and ^Bukhara. These four cities
have been connected in various periods with Jewish settle-
ments, mostly consisting of Persian Jews who had penetrated
into these remote regions from the central provinces of Per-
sia and *Khursan. According to an ancient Pahlavi tradition,
Khwarizm was built by Narses (fifth century), the son of Yez-
degerd 1 and his Jewish wife Shushan Dokt, daughter of the
exilarch. That Jews lived in this region in early Islamic times
can be inferred from the work of the ninth-century Arab his-
torian, al-Tabari (11, 1238); recounting that the shah of Kh-
warizm assembled the leaders of the various communities of
his domain, he mentions the "Habar," a term usually applied
to Jews. The 13 th -century Muslim historian al-Umari mentions
expressly in his Masdlik al-Absar that there were in Khwarizm
100 Jewish families and the same number of Christian and that
they were not permitted to exceed this total.

Khiva (see * Khorezm), a large city on the bank of the
Oxus which was a central meeting place for merchants, had,

according to one manuscript version of the travels of *Benja-
min of Tudela (ed. A. Asher, 1 (1840), 128; 2 (1840), 168-9), a
community of 8,000 Jews. *Solomon b. Samuel, the author of
a Hebrew- Persian dictionary of the Bible, known as Sefer ha-
Melizah (c. 1339), lived in Urgench in the 14 th century.

bibliography: E.N. Adler, Jews in Many Lands (1905), 196]?.;
A. Yaari, Sifrei Yehudei Bukharah (1942); idem, in: Moznayim, 6
(1937/38), 496-503; W.J. Fischel, in: hj, 7 (1945), 42 ff.; I. Ben-Zvi, The
Exiled and the Redeemed (1961 2 ), 56-58, 205-13.

[Walter Joseph Fischel]

TRANSPLANTS. Advances in medical knowledge and tech-
nology have made possible the transplantation of organs from
a deceased (or, in the case of some organs such as a kidney,
from a living) person into another individual stricken with
disease, and this technological advance reached an acme
with the transplantation of a human heart. Such operations
raised many moral, theological, legal, social, and philosophi-
cal problems.

With regard to the general permissibility, Rabbi I. * Ja-
kobovits is of the opinion that a donor may endanger his life
or health to supply a "spare" organ to a recipient whose life
would thereby be saved, only if the probability of saving the
recipient's life is substantially greater than the risk to the do-
nor's life or health. This principle is applicable to all organ
transplantation where live donors are used as a source of the
organ in question. Rabbi Y. Waldenberg (Responsa ZizEliezer,
9 (1967), no. 45) discusses at length the question of whether a
healthy person may or must donate one of his organs to save
the life of another. The majority opinion seems to be that a
small risk may be undertaken by the donor if the chances for
success in the recipient are substantial.

Most of the rabbinic responsa literature concerning or-
gan transplantation deals with eye (cornea) transplants. The
basic halakhic principles governing eye transplants, how-
ever, are applicable to nearly all other organ transplants. Kid-
ney and heart transplants involve several additional unique
questions. The classic responsum is that of Rabbi I.Y. *Un-
terman (Shevet mi-Yhudah (1955), 313 ff.) who states that the
prohibitions on deriving benefit from the dead, desecrating
the dead, and delaying the burial of the dead are all set aside
because of pikkuah nefesh - the consideration of saving life.
These prohibitions would remain if there is no threat to life
involved in the condition for the treatment of which the trans-
plant is being done. For example, there is no pikkuah nefesh
involved in a nose transplant. Rabbi Unterman considers eye
transplants to involve pikkuah nefesh because blindness is a
situation in which a person so afflicted may fall down a flight
of stairs or into a ditch and be killed. What of a person blind
in one eye? The concept of pikkuah nefesh does not apply.
However, argues Rabbi Unterman, once the donor eye is im-
planted into the recipient, it is not considered dead but a liv-
ing organ. Thus, the prohibitions on deriving benefit from the
dead and delaying burial of the dead are not applicable since
no dead organ is involved. For the same reason, the problem

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ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TRANSPLANTS

of ritual defilement or tumah is nonexistent, in regard to the
transplanted eye. Rabbi J.J. Greenwald (Kol Bo at Avelut, 1
(1947), 45 if.) presents reasoning from which the conclusion
can be drawn that one may not remove the entire eye from a
deceased donor for transplantation; only the cornea may be
used since a whole eye represents flesh whereas the cornea
alone is considered skin. Furthermore, one cannot overcome
the problems of desecrating and delaying burial of the dead
without invoking the concept of pikkuah nefesh. Thus, Rabbi
Greenwald, as most authorities, would only permit eye grafts
for a person blind in both eyes. Rabbi I. Glickman (Noam, 4
(1961), 206-17) added to Rabbi Unterman's theses described
above that one may perform a transplant only if the donor
gave permission prior to his death. Most rabbinic responsa
agree with this requirement.

The problem of eye banks is raised by Rabbi M. Stein-
berg (Noam, 3 (i960), 87ff.). Since the permissibility of organ
transplants rests primarily on the overriding consideration of
pikkuah nefesh, then it would seem that the recipient would
have to be at hand (lefaneinu). Rabbi Steinberg states that
since the number of blind persons is so large, a recipient is
considered to be always at hand. Rabbi Jakobovits also per-
mits organs or blood to be donated for deposit in banks pro-
vided there is a reasonable certainty that they will eventually
be used in life-saving operations including the restoration or
preservation of eyesight. Rabbi Unterman, at the end of his
remarks on eye transplants, also states that donations to blood
banks are permissible.

The question of whether the eye of a non- Jewish donor
may be used for an eye transplant is raised by Rabbi M. Fein-
stein (Iggerot Moshe, pt. Yoreh Deah (1959), no. 229). He draws
the conclusion that it is permissible for a Jew to use the eye
of a gentile donor.

Kidney transplants are governed by the same principles
as those discussed above for eye transplants. In fact, many
of the responsa deal with both eye and kidney transplants.
In addition to cadaver kidneys, kidneys from live donors are
used for transplantation. Here, new halakhic questions arise.
Is the donor allowed to subject himself to the danger, however
small, of the operation to remove one of his kidneys in order
to save the life of another? Does the donor transgress the com-
mandments to "take heed to thyself" (Deut. 4:9 and 4:15)? The
Shulhan Arukh and Maimonides in the Yad answer this ques-
tion by stating as follows: "The Jerusalem Talmud concludes
that one is obligated to put oneself even into a possibly dan-
gerous situation [to save another's life] ." The reason seems to
be that the death of the sick person (i.e., the kidney recipient)
without intervention is a certainty, whereas his (the donors)
death is only a possibility.

With regard to heart transplantations, medical and eth-
ical guidelines have been established. Recommendations
include the requirements that the surgical team shall have
had extensive laboratory experience in cardiac transplanta-
tion, that death of the donor shall be certified by an inde-
pendent group of physicians, and that the information and

knowledge gained should be rapidly disseminated to the
medical world.

From the halakhic point of view, the prohibitions deal-
ing with desecrating the dead, delaying burial of the dead, and
ritual defilement, are all set aside in the case of human heart
transplantation, for the overriding consideration of pikkuah
nefesh, saving a life. The major halakhic problem remaining
is the establishment of the death of the donor. Prior to death,
the donor is in the category of a gosses (hopelessly ill patient)
and one is prohibited from touching him or moving him or
doing anything that might hasten his death. There are many
types of death: mental death when a person's intellect ceases to
function; social death when a person can no longer function
in society; spiritual death when the soul leaves the body; and
physiological or medical death. The Jewish legal or halakhic
definition of death is that a person who has stopped breathing
and whose heart is not beating is considered dead. This clas-
sic definition of death in the Talmud (Yoma 8:6-7; Yoma 85a;
tj, Yoma 8:5, 45a and Maimonides, Yad, Shabbat 2:19; Sh. Ar.,
oh 329:4) would be set aside if prospects for resuscitation of
the patient, however remote, are deemed feasible.

On the assumption that the donor is absolutely and posi-
tively dead, most rabbinic authorities permit heart transplants.
Rabbi Jakobovits has stated that ".. .in principle, I can see no
objection in Jewish law to the heart operations recently car-
ried out, provided the donors were definitely deceased at the
time the organ was removed from them." Rabbi I. Arieli is
also quoted as having said that heart transplants are permis-
sible if the donor is definitely dead, but only with the family's
consent. A similar pronouncement was made by Rabbi D.
Lifshutz. Rabbi Unterman's published responsum (Noam, 13
(1970), 1-9) dealing specifically with heart transplants begins
by stating that consent from the family of the donor must be
obtained for several reasons. Touching briefly on the problem
of organ banks, he states that freezing organs for later use is al-
lowed provided there is a good chance that they will be used to
save a life. Then the situation would be comparable to having
the recipient at hand (lefaneinu). Rabbi Unterman concludes
with the novel pronouncement that in the case of a human
heart transplant recipient, removing the patient's old heart
takes from him his hold on life (hezkat hayyim). Therefore,
the removal of the recipient's heart can be sanctioned only if
the risk of death resulting from the surgery is estimated to be
smaller than the prospect for lasting success.

Dissenting from Rabbi Unterman's permissiveness to-
ward heart transplants under the conditions described above
is Rabbi J. Weiss who strongly condemns cardiac transplants
as double murder (Ha-Mabr, 20 (1968), no. 7, 1-9). Rabbi Fein-
stein also added his voice to those condemning heart trans-
plants (Ha-Pardes, 43 (1969), no. 5). Careful reading of his
lengthy responsum on this subject discloses the following clar-
ification of his position: if the donor is definitely dead by all
medical and Jewish legal criteria, then no murder of the donor
would be involved and the removal of his heart or other organ
to save another human life would be permitted. Concerning

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107

TRANSYLVANIA

the recipient, he wrote at the time, when medical science will
have progressed to the point where cardiac transplantation
becomes an accepted therapeutic procedure with reasonably
good chances for success, then the recipient shall no longer
be considered murdered. Major obstacles such as organ re-
jection, tissue compatibility testing, and immunosuppressive
therapy must be first overcome. Other responsa on cardiac
transplantation are those of Rabbi S. *Goren (Mahanayim, 122
(1969), 7-15), Rabbi Y. Gershuni (Or Ha-Mizrah, April 1969),
Rabbi D.C. Gulewski (Ha-Maor, 21 (1969), no. 1, 1-16), Rabbi
M. *Kasher (Noam, 13 (1970), 10-20), and Dr. J. Levi (Noam,
12 (1969), 289-313). The major concern of most, if not all, rab-
bis attempting to render legal rulings in heart transplant cases
is the establishment of the death of the donor.

For a full legal discussion with later rulings, see *Medi-
cine and the Law.

bibliography: I. Jakobovits, Jewish Medical Ethics (1959),
96fF.; idem, in: Essays Presented to... I. Brodie (1967), i88f.; F. Ros-
ner, in: Jewish Life, 37 (1969), 38-51; idem, in: Tradition, 10 (1969),

[Fred Rosner]

TRANSYLVANIA (Rom. Transilvania or Ardeal; Ger.
Siebenbuergen; Hung. Erdely), historic province now form-
ing western ^Romania. Each territorial component of this
region has its own history, which has influenced the history
of the Jews living among the Hungarians, Romanians, Ger-
mans, and other peoples inhabiting it. In 1940, as a result of
the second arbitration decision of Vienna, the territory was
divided between Hungary and Romania - northern Transyl-
vania going to Hungary and southern Transylvania to Roma-
nia - where the Jews suffered different fates. In 1945 the whole
of Transylvania reverted to Romania.

Transylvania has always been a center of routes connect-
ing the Orient with the West, and southern Europe with north-
ern Europe. Its location influenced the general development
of the region, and in particular Jewish settlement from its be-
ginnings. The first Jews arrived from the south - the Balkans
and Turkey - by the trade routes to the north of Transylva-
nia. It has, however, been surmised that a small Jewish settle-
ment existed there, as one had also in neighboring Pannonia,
during the first and second centuries c.e. when the territory
was under Roman rule and constituted Roman Dacia, though
there is no definite evidence for this assumption. Between 1571
and 1687, historic Transylvania and a number of the bordering
territories formed an independent principality ruled by the
Hungarian -Transylvanian princes. It was in this principality,
which was adjacent to the Ottoman Empire and maintained
close relations with it, that the first recorded Jewish settle-
ment developed. The overwhelming majority of its members
were Turkish Sephardi Jews. Their first organized Jewish com-
munity was in *Alba Iulia, the seat of the prince. A letter of
protection of 1623 guaranteed the Jews extensive rights, but
restricted their residence to this town only. However, despite
the restrictions, Jews began to settle in other localities close
to the mother community. The relations of the local Jews with

the Jews in the north and the west attracted a small number
of Ashkenazi settlers from distant places.

This first settlement also affected the development of the
Transylvanian Christian sect of *Somrei Sabat, whose customs
and prayer books were influenced by the Sephardi ritual. Al-
though the princes, particularly Gabriel Bethlen, had prom-
ised the Jews certain rights, there were also schemings against
them, and at the general assemblies of the classes it was sug-
gested that the number of Jews be restricted. The first decision
to this effect was passed as early as 1578.

With the close of the period of the independent princi-
pality and the beginning of Austrian rule, Jews also began to
settle on the estates of noblemen who were not bound by the
residence prohibitions already issued against Jews. (The aris-
tocrats needed the Jews for the economic exploitation of their
land, but provoked antisemitic feelings among their depen-
dents in order to make the Jews afraid of them.) Most of the
towns nevertheless remained closed to Jewish settlement. The
revolutionary year of 1848 theoretically marked the end of the
residence restrictions. There were then about 15,000 Jews in
historic Transylvania. The number of Sephardim was declining
and Ashkenazi settlers from the north - i.e., Poland - began to
play an important role in community life. The number of Jews
in historic Transylvania has been estimated at 2,000 in 1766;
5,175 in 1825; and 15,600 in 1850. Organizationally, between
1754 and 1879, the Jews were under the jurisdiction of a chief
rabbi whose seat was in Alba Iulia. In 1866, when Transylvania
was still ruled by the central government in Vienna, represen-
tatives of the Jewish communities gathered for the first time in
* Cluj for a national conference to create a unified communal
organization with regular organizational patterns.

The objectives of this congress did not materialize be-
cause in 1867 the whole of Transylvania was incorporated
within Hungary, and Jewish communal organization followed
that of Hungarian Jewry until the end of World War 1. The re-
ligious schism which occurred within Hungarian Jewry after
1868-69 ( see ^Hungary) also left its imprint on Transylvania
and, after struggles within the communities, separate Ortho-
dox, *Neologist, and *Status Quo Ante communities were
formed. The influence of *Hasidism, which penetrated Tran-
sylvania from the north, was powerful. During the period of
the struggles and separations, the Jews of historic Transylva-
nia numbered 25,142. By 1880, upon the completion of the
new organization, they numbered 30,000. The majority of the
communities, especially those with large memberships, joined
the Orthodox trend. There were sharp controversies between
the Hasidim and the rabbinist- Ashkenazi Jews, who in spiri-
tual-religious matters turned to Pressburg (^Bratislava) as a
center of authority. The Neologist communities, in which the
Magyar assimilationist trend became strong, regarded Buda-
pest as their center.

The densest Jewish population developed in northeast-
ern Transylvania, whose territories bordered upon Poland and
Moldavia, the urban centers of this region being * Sighet and
*Satu Mare. Until its liquidation, the majority of Jews there

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ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TRANSYLVANIA

remained loyal to traditional Jewish culture, and the predomi-
nant language was Yiddish. During the 19 th century, Yiddish
newspapers were published there, and several poets and au-
thors published works in this language. In the western part
of Transylvania, where the large urban centers were * Oradea
and *Arad, the predominant language was Hungarian, while
in the southwestern part of the region, whose center was *Ti-
misoara, it was Hungarian and German. In the southeastern
part, whose center was *Brasov, the Jews lived among a Ger-
man population which influenced them culturally, but their
social ties with it were not extensive. Although there was a
large Romanian population in the whole of Transylvania, the
Jews were not influenced culturally by the Romanian element
until the end of World Wan. On the contrary, in most places
Jews were pioneers in spreading among the Romanian popu-
lation the Magyar national trend of the central government
in Budapest. The natural center of Transylvania, the town of
Cluj - which also occasionally served as its official capital -
was also a Jewish center during most of the 19 th and 20 th cen-
turies. Cluj University, where Jews were also appointed profes-
sors, was an important intellectual center for Jews in historic
Transylvania, while those in the western districts attended the
University of Budapest.

From the beginning of the 20 th century, the Jewish popu-
lation in historic Transylvania only increased from 53,065 (2.2
percent of the total population) in 1900 to 64,674 (2.4 percent)
in 1910. In the whole area currently known as Transylvania
the Jews numbered 181,340 (3.57 percent) at the beginning of
Romanian rule in 1920. The growth of the Jewish population
and its dispersion throughout the region was linked to eco-
nomic development, the establishment of industry, and the
construction of the railway system. Jews played an impor-
tant role in this development, at first in small trade and later
in large-scale industrialization; they were also prominent in
railroad construction. In general cultural life Jewish partici-
pation was considerable, and from i860 Jews took an active
part in political life. Jewish journalists were prominent and in
particular assisted in raising the standard of the theater. Jewish
producers active in Cluj before World War 1 were pioneers in
the film industry in Hungary, among them Alexander *Korda.
In the field of Jewish culture before the end of World War 1
there were Hebrew printing presses, and attempts were made
to publish newspapers and weeklies in Hebrew, Yiddish, and
Hungarian. Most communities had elementary schools.

In 1918-19 historic Transylvania and the other territo-
ries which constitute present-day Transylvania were trans-
ferred from Hungary to Romania. Links were established
with Romanian Jewry and its center in Bucharest, but they
remained very weak, with neither of the two sides willing to
compromise; very few of the Hungarian- speaking Transylva-
nian Jews were prepared to change their cultural affiliations.
Even after World War 11 and the Holocaust, many Transylva-
nian Jews continued to see themselves as "Hungarians of the
Mosaic faith." Important secondary schools were established
in Cluj (where the language of instruction was also Hebrew),

Timisoara, and Oradea. A Hungarian- Jewish daily, *Uj Kelet
(first appearing as a weekly), was published in Cluj from 1918
until 1940; its publication was resumed in Israel in 1948. Jewish
works were published under its aegis, and its supporters and
members of the editorial board were active in Jewish cultural
life and even in the general political sphere, among them the
editor-in-chief, E. *Marton. In the interwar period there were
110 organized Jewish communities in Transylvania, of which
23 belonged to the Neologist organization, 80 were Orthodox,
and the remainder belonged to the Status Quo Ante organiza-
tion. The headquarters of the Neologist communities were in
Cluj, while those of the Orthodox communities were at first
in * Bistrita and later in *Turda.

Zionist activity, which had already commenced at the
time of the first Zionist congress, developed to large propor-
tions. Every trend of the Zionist movement reached the major
towns and even the smallest localities of the region. Until 1927,
the Zionist national headquarters were situated in Cluj, after
which its organizational section was transferred to Timisoara.
In association with the Zionist movement, a national Jewish
party, active mainly after 1930, campaigned on a large scale in
parliamentary and municipal elections. The party delegates in
the Romanian Parliament fought against anti- Jewish discrimi-
nation by the government, and for promulgation of the *mi-
nority rights expressly granted the Jews by the Trianon peace
treaty. A number of Jews, especially in the western districts,
who had remained politically attached to the Hungarians, or-
ganized a separate political party in Transylvania. Jews rose
to the leadership and were elected to municipal councils and
as delegates to the Parliament in Bucharest. A limited num-
ber of Jews were also active in the national Romanian parties,
and slightly more in the Social Democratic Party. Jews also
belonged to the underground Communist movement, some
serving among its leaders between the two world wars.

Romanian antisemitism, strong throughout this pe-
riod, also made its appearance in Transylvania. In 1927 po-
groms were organized by Romanian students who had con-
vened in Oradea for their national conference. These disorders
spread to the areas in the vicinity of Oradea, to localities sit-
uated near the Oradea- Cluj railway line, and to Cluj itself.
In 1936-37, when the Romanian Fascist movement, the Iron
Guard, formed branches throughout Romania, centers were
also established in most Transylvanian towns, particularly in
Arad. After 1933, the overwhelming majority of the German
population - the Swabians in Banat and the Saxons in south-
ern Transylvania - proclaimed themselves supporters of the
Third Reich. Most of the German population was associated
with the Transylvanian Fascist organizations. These, however,
did not take active measures against the Jews and contented
themselves with an economic ^boycott and social ostracism.
Between the end of 1937 and the beginning of 1938, when the
outspokenly antisemitic O. Goga-A.C. Cuza government came
to power, Jews, under the direction of the Zionists, formed
clandestine *self- defense organizations which succeeded in
preventing acts of brutality. A Jewish economic organization

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

109

TRANSYLVANIA

was established to assist Jews threatened with dismissal from
employment. The succeeding Romanian governments con-
tinued to discriminate against Jews; severe economic prob-
lems arose, and there was growing poverty. The Jewish orga-
nizations combined in efforts to provide relief and assistance.
Aliyah to Palestine increased, though few immigration certif-
icates were allocated to Transylvanian Jews. The number of
Jews in this period remained approximately 200,000, form-
ing 1.8 percent of the general population of historic Transyl-
vania, 20.9 percent of that of Maramures, 5 percent of that of
Crisana, and 1.2 percent of that of Banat.

Holocaust and Contemporary Periods

In August 1940, in the second arbitration decision of Vienna,
it was decided by Germany and Italy - upon the basis of politi-
cal considerations of the German Nazis - to incorporate one
part of Transylvania into Hungary, while the other remained
within Romania, the parts being known respectively as north-
ern Transylvania and southern Transylvania.

southern Transylvania. The minority of about 40,000
Jews remained in the southern, Romanian sector, where the
government began severe persecution of the Jewish popula-
tion. The land owned by the community bodies was confis-
cated, Jews were deprived of factories and shops, and many
Jews of military age were forced into labor battalions. Whole
Jewish populations of villages and provincial towns were ex-
pelled and concentrated in the district capitals. The com-
munities were nevertheless able to continue their religious
activities and provided assistance for the needy. The Zionist
movement continued activities, and its leaders and members
of the youth movement organized rescue and defense from
their center in Timisoara.

northern Transylvania. The fate of the Jews in northern
Transylvania, who numbered approximately 150,000, was very
different. The Fascist Hungarian government which occupied
this territory during the first half of September 1940 imme-
diately introduced economic, social, and cultural restrictions
against the Jews. The newspaper Uj Kelet was compelled to
cease publication on the first day of Hungarian rule in Cluj.
Zionist activity was prohibited in most places. Jews were im-
mediately dismissed from law offices and public positions, and
the number of Jewish pupils in the general secondary schools
was restricted to 4 percent of the student rolls. The Jewish or-
ganizations took steps to relieve this situation. In the fall of
1940 a Jewish secondary school was established in Cluj with
eight classes for boys and eight for girls, and later absorbed
pupils who had been dismissed from the general secondary
schools, as well as from outlying districts. Central relief or-
ganizations were set up in which both the Orthodox and the
Neologist communities cooperated. In 1942, the Hungarian
military command began to conscript Jews of military age into
forced labor battalions, most of which were sent to the eastern
front and reached the advance lines of the German- Hungarian
invasion of the Soviet Union. Most of the conscripts perished

under the harsh conditions. The Jews in northern Transylva-
nia began to resume participation in the organizational life of
Hungarian Jewry, whose center was in Budapest. The Transyl-
vanian Zionist movement functioned clandestinely, and even
succeeded in sending youths and adults to Palestine through
Romania and the Black Sea.

A further turning point occurred on March 19, 1944,
when the Germans occupied Hungary. After a few weeks,
preparations were made to establish ghettos and for deporta-
tions to the death camp at ^Auschwitz. The area was declared to
be a danger zone from the security aspect, and both the Hun-
garian and German authorities sped up the deportations to
the death camps. From the end of the summer of 1944 nearly
all the Jews in northern Transylvania were deported; few suc-
ceeded in hiding themselves. The Jewish institutions were liq-
uidated and a number of synagogues were destroyed.

After the capitulation of Romania on Aug. 23, 1944,
northern Transylvania became a battle zone: the Soviet and
Romanian armies entered the region and defeated the Ger-
man and Hungarian forces. Toward the end of this period, a
few Jews left southern Transylvania for northern Transylvania.
In 1945 survivors began to return to the region.

By 1947 a Jewish population had been formed from sur-
vivors of the camps, the arrivals from southern Transylvania,
and others who had come to the region from Romania and
northern Bukovina, occupied by the Soviet Union. Accord-
ing to an estimate for that year, they numbered about 44,000
in northern Transylvania, 13,000 in Crisana, and 15,000 in
Banat. The traditional community institutions were revived,
and Zionist organizations were also active until 1949 in find-
ing opportunities for aliyah. In addition, a new Jewish Demo-
cratic Committee (Comitetul Democratic Evreesc - cde) was
established by Jewish activists of the Communist Party. How-
ever, as soon became evident, the committee was an instru-
ment of the new Communist regime, with the principal ob-
jective of disbanding the Zionist movement so that organized
Jewish activities could be placed under close government and
party supervision. After the war, and especially after the es-
tablishment of the State of Israel, many thousands of Jews
made their way to Israel. The Jewish population in the region
in 1971 was estimated at between 6,000 and 7,000. In towns
with traditional communities - Cluj, Oradea, Arad, and Ti-
misoara - and in several other smaller towns, the community
organizations continued to be active, and prayers were held in
the synagogues at least on Friday evenings and festivals. The
communities were affiliated to the central organization of Ro-
manian Jews with headquarters in Bucharest. The dwindling
of the Transylvanian Jewish communities continued into the
21 st century, with most of the remaining Jews now being en-
tirely assimilated.

bibliography: M. Carmilly- Weinberger (ed.), Memorial
Volume for the Jews of Cluj-Kolozsvar (Eng., Heb., and Hung., 1970);
N. Sylvain, in: P. Meyer et al., The Jews in the Soviet Satellites (1953); B.
Vago, in: R.L. Braham (ed.), Hungarian Jewish Studies, 1 (1966); idem,
in: pk Romanyah, 1 (1970), 261-71 (incl. bibl.); Z.Y. Avraham, Le-Korot

110

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TRAUB, MARVIN S.

ha-Yehudim bi-Transilvanyah (1951); I.J. Cohen, in: ks, 33 (1957/58),
386-403; 34 (1958-59), 499-512; 35 (i959-6o), 98-108; 37 (1961-62),
249-66; S. Yitzhaki, Battei-Sefer Yehudiyyim bi-Transilvanyah Bein
Shetei Milhamot ha-Olam (1970); M. Eisler, Az erdelyi zsidok multjdbol
(1901); D. Schoen, Istenkeresok a Kdrpdtok alatt (1964).

[Yehouda Marton / Paul Schveiger (2 nd ed.)]

TRAPANI, city in Sicily. Documents suggest that 200 Jews,
constituting one- tenth of the town's inhabitants, lived in Tra-
pani in 1439. Their share of the taxes, however, was one-sixth,
and from 1426 they had to provide one-third of the guard for
the town walls. The affairs of the community were directed
by the prothi ("notables"), assisted by 12 elders. In 1484 the
community adopted the unusual system of having the outgo-
ing prothi appoint their own successors. Like all the Jews in
Sicily, the Jews of Trapani were under continuous pressure to
pay special levies to the sovereigns. In 1404 King Martin urged
the prothi to proceed energetically against Jewish tax default-
ers through excommunication, denial of circumcision for
their sons, and exclusion from burial in the Jewish cemetery.
Two years later he reconfirmed the privileges of the Jews, in
consequence of the exceptional contributions they had paid.
The brothers Samuel and Elia Sala, who in 1402 had been
granted special privileges for services rendered to the royal
house, were commissioned in 1405 and 1409 to negotiate
the peace between the rulers of Sicily and Tripoli. In the mean-
time they ransomed the bishop of Syracuse from the Saracens.
The Jews of Trapani made their living from trade, including
shipping merchandise to Tunisia, and many worked in the
manufacture of coral jewelry. The number of Jews obliged
to leave Trapani at the expulsion in 1492 (see *Sicily) is es-
timated at about 300. In 1492, at the time of the expulsion
many wealthy Jewish families left Trapani, but they returned a
few years later as *Neofiti (baptized Jews). In 1499 the city
negotiated the taxation of Jewish property that remained
after the expulsion specifying that it concerned the newly
converted Jews, and referring to the "assets, debts, silver, gold,
jewels, and other things of the said former Jews, at present
baptized." Shortly after its establishment in 1500, the Span-
ish Inquisition in Sicily concentrated its efforts against the
converted Jews of Trapani and many were prosecuted. In-
quisitorial registers list 80 converts living in Trapani after the
expulsion.

bibliography: Milano, Bibliotheca, index; Milano, Italia,
index; Roth, Italy, index; Lagumina, in: Archivio Storico Siciliano,
11 (1887), 446-7; G. Di Giovanni, Ebraismo della Sicilia... (Palermo,
1748). add. bibliography: A. Precopi Lombardi, "Le comunita
ebraiche del Trapanse," in: Italia Judaica, 5 (1995), 463-500; C. Tras-
selli, Siciliani fra quattrocento e cinquecento (1981); E. Ashtor, "The
Jews of Trapani in the Later Middle Ages," in: Studi Medievali, 25
(1984), 1-30; A. Sparti, Fonti per la storia del corallo nel medioevo
mediterraneo (1986); F. Renda, La fine del giudaismo siciliano (1993);
A. Scandaliato, "Momenti di vita a Trapani nel Quattrocento," in: N.
Bucaria (ed.), Gli ebrei in Sicilia dal tardoantico al medioevo, Studi in
onore di Monsignor Benedetto Rocco (1998), 167-219; S. Simonsohn,
The Jews in Sicily, 1-6, index; H. Bresc, Arabes de langue, juifs de reli-

gion, devolution du Judaisme sicilien dans Venvironment latin, xn e -xv e
siecles (2001); N. Zeldes, The Former Jews of this Kingdom. Sicilian
Converts after the Expulsion (1492-1516) (2003).

[Sergio Joseph Sierra / Nadia Zeldes (2 nd ed.)]

°TRASKE, JOHN (c. 1585-1636), English sectarian leader
and Judaizer. Born in Somerset, Traske became an Anglican
minister in 1611. He then became a peripatetic preacher and,
by the mid- 1610s, influenced by a tailor named Hamlet Jack-
son, he and his followers regulated their lives by the Hebrew
Scriptures, strictly observing the Sabbath and dietary laws.
After being condemned to savage punishment by the Star
Chamber (1618), he recanted and published A Treatise ofLib-
ertiefrom Judaisme ... by John Traske, of late stumbling, now
happily running again in the Race of Christianitie (London,
1620). Some of his associates, including Hamlet Jackson, im-
migrated to Amsterdam where the latter, at least, formally
joined the Jewish community.

bibliography: Philips, in: jhset, 15 (1939-45), 63-72; Roth,
ibid., 19 (1955-59), 9f- add. bibliography: odnb online; D. Katz,
Sabbath and Sectarianism in Seventeenth-Century England (1988).

[Cecil Roth]

TRAUB, MARVIN S. (1925- ), U.S. retail executive. Traub, a
native New Yorker, became synonymous with one of the city's
best-known attractions, Bloomingdale's department store.
Under his leadership, it evolved from dowdy to dazzling and
turned shopping into show business. It was also on his watch
that Bloomingdale's had its darkest days, being forced into a
brief period of bankruptcy. Traub was raised in a retailing en-
vironment. His mother was a fashion director at Bonwit Teller
on Fifth Avenue and his father had a licensing agreement with
Christian Dior. After serving in France with the U.S. infantry
in World War 11 and receiving a Purple Heart for a leg wound,
Traub graduated from Harvard College in 1947 and Harvard
Business School in 1949. He worked briefly at Macy's and
Alexander's, then joined Bloomingdale's in 1950. It would be
his employer for the next 41 years. When Traub arrived, the
store's wares were modestly priced, "a notch below Gimbel's,"
he once recalled. His first assignment was to manage the 49-
cent bargain hosiery table. By 1959, Traub had risen to vice
president of home products and he made history by sending
his buyers to Italy to look for everything from flatware to fur-
niture. The Casa Bella promotion became the first of Bloom-
ingdale's import events, presaging the transformation of the
store into one of the most dynamic retailing operations in
the U.S. The import promotions spread to other departments
and eventually were storewide. Traub also advanced the con-
cept of in-store boutiques, a key retail development. He was
named president of Bloomingdale's in i960 and chairman in
1978, retaining that post until he retired in 1991. That year, he
was awarded the National Retail Federation's Gold Medal.
From 1988 to 1992, Traub was also a vice chairman of Feder-
ated Department Stores, Bloomingdale's owner. In 1992, he
formed Marvin Traub Associates, a marketing and consulting

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

111

TRAUBE, ISIDOR

business. He was a senior advisor to Financo, an investment
banking firm. In 1993, Traub co-authored Like No Other Store
in the Worlds a chronicle of his triumphs at Bloomingdale s
and an unsparing critique of Robert Campeau, a Canadian
real estate tycoon who borrowed billions to complete a hostile
takeover of the store in 1988. Pressed by debt, Campeau put
Bloomingdale's up for sale. Traub tried and failed to buy the
store, which was driven into bankruptcy in 1990 and emerged
from it in 1992.

bibliography: M. Traub and T. Teicholz, Like No Other

Store in the World (1993).

[Mort Sheinman (2 nd ed.)]

TRAUBE, ISIDOR (1860-1943), German physical chemist.
Traube, who was born in Hildesheim, worked at the univer-
sities of Heidelberg and Bonn. From 1901 he was professor at
the Technische Hochschule of Berlin, but left Germany in 1934
and settled in Edinburgh.

Traube related the laws governing the behavior of dilute
solutions to the gas laws, actually anticipating Van't Hoffand
Arrhenius, the Dutch and Swedish physical chemists. Traube
also propounded that absorbed films on liquid surfaces obeyed
two-dimensional analogies of the gas laws, a proposition that
was substantiated 30 years later. He published numerous pa-
pers on surface phenomena. His theory of the action of drugs
had a positive effect on pharmacological research for years.
The effect of organic compounds on the surface tension of
water is governed by " Traube s Rule."

[Samuel Aaron Miller]

TRAUBE, LUDWIG (1818-1876), German pathologist; a
pioneer in the field of experimental pathology. Traube was
born in Silesia and graduated from the University of Berlin.
In 1849 he was appointed lecturer and research worker at the
Charite Hospital in Berlin and his clinic soon achieved a high
reputation for exactness and thoroughness in diagnoses and
therapy. His book Gesammelte Beitraege zur Pathologie und
Physiologie (3 vols., 1871-78) earned him a worldwide repu-
tation. He was one of the first Jewish physicians to attain the
title of professor in Germany.

Traube investigated pulmonary resection of the vagus
nerve and carried out studies on suffocation, effects of digi-
talis and other drugs, the pathology of fever, the relationship
between heart and kidney diseases, and many other subjects.
He was the first to introduce the thermometer in his clinic
for regular checking of temperature of all patients. He de-
scribed an area of the chest wall over which stomach reso-
nance is obtained ("Traube's Space"). "Traube's Sign" is a dou-
ble sound over the peripheral arteries in aortic insufficiency
or mitral stenosis. He also described blood curves ("Traube's
Curves") and an artificial chemical membrane ("Traube's
Membrane").

bibliography: H. Morrison, Ludwig Traube (Eng., 1927);
S.R. Kagan, Jewish Medicine (1952), 222-3.

[Suessmann Muntner]

TRAUBE, LUDWIG (1861-1907), master paleographer and
critic of Latin texts. Born in Berlin, the son of Ludwig Traube,
the great pathologist, he became professor of the Latin philol-
ogy of the Middle Ages at the University of Munich in 1904
after a long struggle in which his Jewishness played a key role.
His importance lies in the fact that through his independent
research he raised paleography to the status of a historical sci-
ence and made a basic contribution to the intellectual history
of the Latin Middle Ages. Possessed of independent means, he
was able to visit all the important libraries of Europe and study
the Latin manuscripts at length. His studies of contractions
of Latin words and nomina sacra (his major work, a study of
various ways of writing divine names in manuscripts) proved
crucial in tracing the history of schools of copyists, tracing
manuscripts to particular monks, and indicating which me-
dieval scholars had used them. He unraveled the complicated
textual histories of the Rule of St. Benedict and of the Latin
historian Livy Of his projected comprehensive work on Latin
paleography, the study of the half-uncial script appeared post-
humously. Despite his premature death, Traube, because of his
ability to attract and influence students, continued to exercise
a profound influence on the field through his students - R
Lehmann, R Maas, C.U. Clark, C.H. Beeson, E.A. *Lowe, and
E.K. Rand - not only in Germany but also in England and es-
pecially in the United States.

bibliography: F. Boll and R Lehmann (ed.), Vorlesungen
und Abhandlungen von Ludwig Traube, 1 (1909), 11-73 [biography and
list of his writings, including a large number in manuscript, some of
which were edited posthumously by Boll and Lehmann]; J.E. Sandys,
A History of Classical Scholarship, 3 (1958), 195.

[Louis Harry Feldman]

TRAUBE, MORITZ (1826-1894), German chemist and bi-
ologist. Traube was born in Ratibor, Upper Silesia, the brother
of Ludwig *Traube. For most of his life he had to combine
scientific research in his private laboratory with running the
family wine business. With his discovery of semipermeable
membranes he pioneered the field of osmosis. He also did re-
search into autoxidation of hydrogen peroxide, plant respira-
tion, biological oxidation and reduction, and nutrition. Traube
was a member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences.

TRAUBE, WILHELM (1866-1942), German organic chem-
ist. Traube was born in Ratibor, Upper Silesia, the son of
Moritz *Traube, and the brother of Hermann Traube, profes-
sor of mineralogy at Breslau. He studied at Heidelberg, and in
Berlin. He spent his career at the University of Berlin, where
he became professor in 1929, retiring in 1934. He published
on aromatic and heterocylic compounds and pharmaceuti-
cal activity.

TRAVEL, PRAYER FOR (Heb. TH* D^Dri, Tefillat ha-
Derekh), prayer recited upon setting out on a journey to pro-
tect the traveler from the dangers associated with travel. The
Talmud attributes the institution of this practice to the prophet

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ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TRAVELERS AND EXPLORERS

Elijah, who cautioned a scholar that "when thou go est forth
on a journey, seek counsel of thy Maker and go forth." The
talmudic text of this prayer is:

May it be Thy will, O Lord my God, to lead me forth in peace,
and direct my steps in peace and uphold me in peace, and de-
liver me from the hand of every enemy and ambush by the way,
and send a blessing on the works of my hands, and cause me
to find grace, kindness, and mercy in Thy eyes and in the eyes
of all who see me. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, who hearkenest
unto prayer (Ber. 29b).

With only slight alterations, this text has since been used as
the traveler's prayer among both Ashkenazim and Sephardim
(Hertz, Prayer, 1044). It is, however, recited in the first person
plural in accordance with the dictum of Abbaye that "a man
should always associate himself with the congregation" (Ber.
29b-3oa). It is recited once daily at the start of each day's trav-
els, as long as a distance of 1 Persian mile (about 3 miles) is to
be covered. It is preferable to recite this prayer while stand-
ing, although it may be said while sitting in places where it is
difficult to stand (Ber. 30a; Sh. Ar., oh 110:4-7), as i n an auto-
mobile or airplane. It has also become customary to recite ap-
propriate biblical selections (e.g., Gen. 32:2-3; Ex. 23:20; Ps. 91)
at the conclusion of the prayer. Additions have also been made
for sea and air travel. Alternative versions of this prayer for
paratroopers, pilots, sailors, and soldiers were composed by S.
Goren, the former chief rabbi of the Israel Defense Forces.

bibliography: Idelsohn, Liturgy, 172.

TRAVELERS AND EXPLORERS. In the ninth century Jew-
ish traders known as "*Radaniya" traded between Western Eu-
rope and China, by land and sea. They were fluent in several
languages and dealt in female and boy slaves, eunuchs, bro-
cades, furs such as beaver and marten, and swords from the
West. They brought back musk, aloes, camphor, cinnamon,
and other products from China and India. After the Arab con-
quest of North Africa in the seventh century, Jewish traders
had followed the Berber and Arab armies and reached the Ni-
ger Basin. As late as the 18 th and 19 th centuries, Jewish caravan
travelers were sending geographical information about south-
ern Morocco and the western Sahara back to Europe.

*Isaac the Jew, who accompanied Charlemagne's em-
bassy to Harun al-Rashid as an interpreter in 797, returned
four years later with an elephant, Abulaboz, which was a gift
from the sultan. *Eldad ha-Dani (c. 880) claimed to have made
two voyages. The range of his travels seems to have extended
from Baghdad and Kairouan to Spain. Jacob ibn Tariq (ninth
century) is supposed to have traveled from Baghdad to Cey-
lon to obtain books on astronomy, while an Arabian or Turk-
ish ruler sent a Jacob Aben Sheara to India (c. 925), for the
same purpose.

According to the c Ajdib al-Hind ("The Wonders of India,"
c - 953), by Buzurg ibn Shahriyar of Ramhurmuz, Ishaq (Isaac)
the Jew traveled from Oman (Sohar, southeastern Arabia) to
India. From there, he went to China, where he lived for 30

years and amassed a fortune. He returned to Oman in 912/13.
Ishaq was subsequently killed at Serboza in Sumatra on orders
of Oman's governor Ahmad ibn Hilal. He is also supposed to
have visited Lho or Bhutan in the Himalayas. *Ibrahim ibn
Ya c qub of Tortosa (tenth century) visited France (including the
area around the English Channel), Mainz, Fulda, Schleswig,
apparently Bohemia, and the court of the German emperor,
Otto 1, in 966. According to Abraham *Ibn Ezra (12 th cen-
tury), a Jewish traveler brought the "Arabic" numerals from
India. Ibn Ezra himself visited Rome, a number of other Ital-
ian towns, Provence, France, England, Africa, Rhodes, and
perhaps Erez Israel and even India. His Reshit Hokhmah con-
tains important information on Egypt, Arabia, Erez Israel,
Persia, and India. Genizah documents attest to considerable
travel by Jewish merchants from the Middle East to India and
other Asian countries.

The most famous Jewish medieval traveler was *Benja-
min b. Jonah of Tudela who journeyed in the second half of
the 12 th century. He wrote a book on his travels, which viv-
idly depicts the many Jewish communities he visited and
also gives a picture of general political and economic condi-
tions. His contemporary, the German traveler *Pethahiah of
Regensburg, journeyed throughout the Middle East and his
account, although incorporating certain legendary elements,
gives much valuable information on the Jewish communities
he encountered. An adventurous traveler was the Hebrew
poet and translator Judah *al-Harizi. In his youth he traveled
from his native Spain to Provence. In about 1216 he set out on
his journey to the East. Some chapters of his classical work
Tah.kem.oni contain his observations, at times very critical,
of the Jewish communities he visited between 1216 and 1230,
which included those in Southern France, Egypt, Erez Israel,
Syria, and Mesopotamia. A document of King James iv of
Majorca (1334) states that YuceffFaquin, a Barcelona Jew, had
circumnavigated the entire known world on the king's orders.
Much Jewish travel concentrated on journeys to and from Erez
Israel, for which see ^Travelers and Travel to Erez Israel.

The Age of Discovery

Luis de ^Torres, Columbus' interpreter, was a Jew who was
baptized the day before the expedition's departure. De Torres,
who reported the discovery of the phenomenon of tobacco,
was the first person of Jewish origin to settle in Cuba.

The Portuguese, who attempted to find both a sea and an
overland route to the Indies, sent Joao Perez of Covilha and
Alfonso de Paiva to search for such a route. When the pair
had not been heard from for some time, ^Abraham of Beja,
known for his fluency in several languages, and Joseph Copa-
teiro, an experienced eastern traveler, were sent to find them.
They met Perez returning from India, in Cairo. De Paiva had
died meanwhile. Abraham and Perez returned to Portugal via
Ormuz, Damascus, and Aleppo, while Copateiro returned
directly to Portugal with the information which indicated
the existence of a sea route to the Far East; this information
was then used by Vasco da Gama. One of the pilots and navi-

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TRAVELERS AND EXPLORERS

gators who helped Da Gama in his later journey was a Jew,
variously described as from Posen and Alexandria, whom he
picked up on an island 60 miles from Goa. Da Gama had the
Jew baptized as Gaspar da *Gama, and made him a pilot of
the Portuguese fleet.

Hernando Alonso (1460-1528) had a particularly ad-
venturous career. He was born in Niebla, Spain, immigrated
to Cuba where he met Hernando Cortez (1516), and became
a member of Cortez' army that sailed for Mexico (1520).
A blacksmith and carpenter by trade, he helped build the
ships that Cortez needed for the conquest of Tenochtitlan. He
led the group that subdued the Indians of Panuco and took
part in the conquest of Guanajuato. Cortez awarded him the
estate of Actopan, 40 miles outside of Mexico City, and he
engaged in the lucrative business of supplying the town with
meat. In 1528 he was denounced as a Judaizer and burned at
the stake.

One of the most interesting and enigmatic figures of Jew-
ish history is David *Reuveni, who appeared in Italy in 1524
claiming that his brother Joseph ruled over the tribes of Gad
and Reuben and half the tribe of Manasseh in the wilderness
of Habor and that he was the commander of his army. He
claimed to have traveled, disguised as a Muslim, through Ethi-
opia, Egypt, and Erez Israel, and came to Europe to elicit the
military assistance of the Christian powers for the liberation
of the Holy Land from the Turks. His "project" failed and he
is reported to have died in prison in Spain. His Hebrew diary,
which reflects his claims, describes, among other things, his
talks with the pope and the king of Portugal, his visits to Ital-
ian Jewish communities, and his meetings in Portugal with
Marranos, who saw in him the bearer of their hope.

Joseph *Delmedigo, who was born in Crete and stud-
ied in Padua, traveled through Egypt, Turkey, Poland, Rus-
sia, and Lithuania in the course of his career. A Jewish inter-
preter accompanied Captain James Lancaster (1601) on the
East India Company's first expedition. He helped to negoti-
ate the treaty between the English and the sultan of Achin in
Sumatra, which served as the basis for British expansion in
the Far East.

The i6 th -century Yemenite poet *Zechariah al-Dahiri
traveled widely. He journeyed to Yemen, India, Persia, Bab-
ylonia, Turkey, Syria, Erez Israel, Egypt, and Ethiopia. His
travel impressions form the literary background of his mag-
num opus Sefer ha-Musar.

Pedro *Teixeira (c. 1570-1650), a Marrano from Lisbon,
may have been the first Jew to go around the world, and is be-
lieved to have been the first white man to make a continuous
journey up the River Amazon.

In 1644 Antonio de Montezinos, who had returned from
a trip to the Americas, told the worthies of the Amsterdam
community about Indians he had met near Quito, Ecuador,
who knew the Shema and claimed that they were descended
from the tribes of Reuben and Levi. His report encouraged
*Manasseh Ben Israel to write "Hope of Israel" and later to ne-
gotiate with Oliver Cromwell to readmit the Jews to England

in order to complete their dispersion to the "end of the earth,"
which was a prerequisite for the coming of the Messiah.

In 1687 there appeared in Amsterdam Notisias dosjudeos
de Cochin, a report on the condition of the Jews of *Cochin,
by Moses *Pereira de Paiva, an Amsterdam Jew of Portuguese
descent, who visited India.

i8 th -20 th Centuries

Sason Hai of the House of Castiel was a native of Istanbul,
who from his youth evinced a great desire to travel. From his
travel account, in Hebrew, published by Izhak Ben-Zvi (Se-
funoty 1 (1956), 141-84), it is difficult to determine the route
of his travels. He mentions his return to Istanbul in 1703 and
that in 1709 he was in Basra. Among the countries he visited
were Holland, Italy, Ethiopia, Tunisia and Morocco, Persia,
and Afghanistan. Although his account abounds in legends,
folk tales and hearsay, it nevertheless contains many accurate
facts which he reports as an eyewitness.

The best-known Jewish travel record of the 18 th century
is the Ma'gal Tov of Hayyim Joseph David *Azulai, the famous
rabbinical scholar and bibliographer. He twice toured Euro-
pean Jewish communities as an emissary of the Jewish com-
munity of Hebron. On his first journey (1753-58), he sailed
from Alexandria to Leghorn, where he returned after trav-
eling through Italy, Tyrol, Germany, Holland, England, and
France, and sailed from there to Smyrna. He subsequently
visited Istanbul, returning from there by boat to Erez Israel.
On his second journey (1772-78), he sailed from Alexandria
to Tunis and from there to Leghorn. He traveled through It-
aly, France, Belgium, and Holland, finally settling in Leghorn.
His diaries are replete with acute observations on life in the
cities he visited.

A contemporary of Azulai was Simon von *Geldern. A
native of Vienna, he grew up in Germany and studied at yeshi-
vot there. He led an adventurous life, traveling through Europe
and the Near East, visiting Erez Israel several times. He was
equally at home in the Jewish community and in high society
and gentile scholarly circles in various European countries.
Von Geldern, who was a great-uncle of Heine, kept a diary. His
life was described by Fritz Heymann (Der Chevalier von Gel-
dern y 1937). Earlier David Kaufmann had published extracts
from his diary in his Aus Heinrich Heines Ahnensaal (1896).

A Jewish traveler whose travel record was very popular
was Israel Joseph Benjamin (*Benjamin 11). From his early
youth he formed the desire to make a pilgrimage to Erez Israel
and to travel in search of traces of the lost ten tribes. After he
failed in business in his home town Falticeni, in the then Turk-
ish province of Moldavia, he set out to realize his dream. He
traveled through Turkey, Egypt, Erez Israel, Syria, Kurdistan,
Mesopotamia, India, Afghanistan, and Persia, and also visited
Singapore and Canton. Shortly after his return to Europe, he
set out on another voyage, traveling through North Africa.
He published Cinque annees de voyage en Orient 1846-1851
(Paris, 1856) about his travels in Asia. The book appeared
later in German with additional chapters on his travels in Af-

114

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TRAVELERS AND EXPLORERS

rica (Achtjahre in Asien und Afrika, 1858) and was translated
into English, Hebrew, and Ladino. From 1859 to 1862, Benja-
min was in America, and he recorded his experiences there
in Drei Jahre in Amerika (1862; Eng. edition: Three Years in
America y 1956).

Jacob *Saphir was the first Jewish traveler to report on
the life of the Jews of Yemen. Born in Lithuania in 1812, he
settled with his parents in Erez Israel when he was ten years
old. In 1858-63 he visited Egypt, Aden, Yemen, Bombay, Co-
chin, Colombo in Ceylon, Calcutta, Rangoon, Singapore,
Batavia, Australia, and New Zealand, as an emissary of the
Jerusalem community. He spent longer periods in Yemen and
India and in his travel book Even Sappir (2 vols., 1866-74)
gives detailed descriptions of the life and customs of the Jews
of Yemen, the Bene Israel of India, and the black and white
Jews of Cochin.

Jehiel Fishl Kestelmann visited the Jewish communities
of Syria, Kurdistan, Mesopotamia, and Persia as an emissary
of the Jewish community of Safed in 1859-61. His description
of his travels was published by A. Yaari under the title Massabt
Shaliah Zefat be-Arzot ha-Mizrah (1942).

Asher ha- Levi was born in Galicia. After an unhappy
childhood, in 1866, at the age of 17, he left Jassy, where he had
lived for several years, and traveled through the Balkans, Asia
Minor, Mesopotamia, and India. Eventually he settled in a city
in the Himalayan Mountains. He wrote several books in He-
brew, including an autobiography. His account of his travels
in the Balkans in 1866-68 was published in 1938 by A. Yaari
under the title Harpatkabtav shel Asher ha-Levi.

Salomon Rinman was born in Galicia. After spending
many years in Cochin he returned to Europe and at the urg-
ing of the Hebrew writer Wolf Schur he wrote a description
of his travels in India, Burma, and China, Massabt Shelomo
be-Erez Hodu, Birman ve-Sinim (1884).

In 1883-86, Ephraim *Neumark visited the Jewish com-
munities in Syria, Kurdistan, Mesopotamia, Persia, Afghani-
stan, and Central Persia. His travel impressions Massa be-Erez
ha-Kedem were first printed in Ha-Asif (5, 1887). He was the
first to report on the crypto-Jews of *Meshed in Persia.

In 1868, the Orientalist Joseph *Halevy was sent by the
Alliance Israelite Universelle to study the conditions of the
Falashas, describing his journey there in "Travels in Abyssinia"
(Miscellany of Hebrew Literature, 2 (1877), 177-256). Not long
after his return he went to Yemen to inquire into the state of
the Jews there and to examine the Sabean inscriptions. Halevy
did not write a book about his travels to Yemen, but years af-
ter the expedition Hayyim *Habshush, a Yemenite Jew who
had served as Halevy s guide, wrote an account of their travels
there. Written partly in Hebrew and partly in Arabic, it was
published in Hebrew in 1939 by S.D. Goitein under the title
Massabt Habshush.

Ephraim *Deinard wrote several travel books. His Massa
Krim (1878) includes chapters on the life of the Karaites and
the Krimchaks (original Jews of the Crimea). Sefer ha-Massabt
be-Erez Kavkaz u-vi-Medinot asher me-Ever le-Kavkaz (1884)

by Joseph Judah *Chorny, printed after the death of the author,
gives an account of his travels among the Jewish communities
in the Caucasus and in Transcaucasia.

Arctic explorers and travelers of the 18 th and 19 th centu-
ries include Israel Lyons (1739-1775) who served as chief as-
tronomer with Captain Phipps' expedition to the Polar regions
in 1773; Isaac Israel *Hayes (1832-1881), surgeon to the "Ad-
vance" expedition searching for Sir John Franklin, discoverer
and explorer of Grinnel Land, and leader of an i860 expedi-
tion to Greenland which encountered another expedition led
by August Sonntag; Emil *Bessels (1847-1888), surgeon and
naturalist of the ill-fated "Polaris" expedition to the North
Pole; Edward ^Israel (1859-1884), astronomer with the Greely
expedition to Greenland, where he died of malnutrition; Aldo
Pontremoli (1896-1928), physics professor at the University
of Milan and an aviation pioneer during the interwar period,
who died on Nobile's 1928 Arctic dirigible expedition; Rudolph
*Samoilovich (1881-1939), wno led the Russian relief expedi-
tion to the Nobile party's aid (1928), discovered the Spitzbergen
coal deposit, and explored the Franz Josef Archipelago; and
Angelo Heilperin (1853-1907), who made geological expedi-
tions to Florida (1886), Bermuda (1888), and Mexico (1890),
led a relief expedition to Peary's aid in Greenland (1892), took
part in expeditions to North Africa (1896) and to the Klondike
(1898-99), and scaled and explored Mt. Pelee (1902-03).

Explorers of Africa in the 19 th century include Nathan-
iel ^Isaacs, a member of the King expedition sent to search
for Farwell, wrecked off Natal in 1825, who explored Natal for
seven years; *Emin Pasha (Eduard Schnitzer), General Gor-
don's aide, then his successor as governor of the Equatorial
Province, who made important explorations and investiga-
tions in Central Africa; Edouard * Foa, who traveled through
Morocco, southern and central Africa, French Congo and
Dahomey; and Louis Arthur Lucas, who traveled through the
U.S. (1872), Egypt (1873), and navigated the northern part of
Lake Albert Nyanza in 1876.

Other travelers, adventurers, or explorers of the 18 th ,
19 th , and 20 th centuries who were Jewish or of Jewish origin
include Mantua-born Samuel *Romanelli, whose Massa ba-
Arav (Berlin, 1792) is a vivid account of his four-year jour-
ney from Gibraltar to Algiers and Morocco; Captain Moses
Ximenes (c. 1762-c. 1830), who led an expedition from Eng-
land to the island of Bulama, West Africa, and made an un-
successful attempt to establish a colony there; a U.S. Army
colonel from Boston named Cohen, who traveled from Ad-
ana via Smyrna to Constantinople with a group of Egyptian
soldiers; *David D'Beth Hillel, author of The Travels From
Jerusalem through Arabia, Koordistan, Part of Persia, and In-
dia, to Madras (1832), who searched for the remnants of the
Ten Tribes, and described in detail the holy places and his-
torical sites of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam from India
to Erez Israel, the Yazidis in Sinjar, the Sabeans, Wahhabis,
Druze, the Dawudiyya sect in western Persia, and the differ-
ences between the Sunnite and Shi'ite Muslims; Alexander
^Salmon, an English sailor who married a Tahitian clan chief-

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TRAVELERS AND TRAVELS TO EREZ ISRAEL

tainess and served as adviser to the rulers of Tahiti; Hein-
rich Bernstein (1828-1865), who explored the Moluccas, the
Malay Peninsula, and New Guinea for Holland; William Gif-
ford Palgrave (1826-1888), who worked as a Catholic mis-
sionary in India, Syria, and Arabia and wrote Narrative of a
Years Journey Through Central and Eastern Arabia (2 vols.,
1865); Arminius *Vambery who, disguised as a Muslim der-
vish, was the first European to travel from Trebizond to Tehe-
ran, Persia, and Samarkand in Central Asia (1861-63); Gott-
fried *Merzbacher, who climbed mountains in the Caucasus
and the Tien Shan range and studied the ecology of the latter
for more than five years; Ney *Elias, who traveled across the
Gobi Desert, through the Pamir Mountains, and Chinese and
Afghan Turkestan, and traced the Oxus Rivers upper course;
Elio Modigliani, who explored the Malay Peninsula; Samuel
*Fenichel, who explored New Guinea for bird and butterfly
specimens; Nathaniel Wallich, who explored Assam, Hindu-
stan, and Burma; Lamberto Loria, who traveled in Australia
and New Guinea; Eduard * Glaser, the Austrian explorer who
made four expeditions to the Yemen, located Sana, and dis-
covered numerous old manuscripts and inscriptions; Her-
mann *Burchardt, German explorer and ethnographer, who
traveled in the Near East, North Africa, Australia, America,
India, and Iceland, and was murdered in Yemen; Julius Pop-
per, who explored and reigned briefly over Tierra del Fuego;
Sir Mark Aurel *Stein, who headed expeditions in India, Chi-
nese Turkestan, China, Persia, and the Middle East; Raimondo
*Franchetti, the "Italian Lawrence," who traveled in Indochina,
Malaya, the Sudan, East Africa, and Ethiopia; the ethnologist
Vladmir *Jochelson, who, in the course of a ten-year exile in
Siberia (1884-94), studied the nomad Yokaghir tribe and lat-
ter accompanied expeditions to Kamchatka, Eastern Asia,
and Alaska; Lev Yakovlevich Sternberg, who was also exiled
to Siberia (1910-20) and studied the nomad Giyake tribe in
northeastern Siberia; and Charles *Bernheimer, who explored
the northern Arizona and Utah badlands for the American
Museum of Natural History and undertook expeditions to
Guatemala and Yucatan.

Of the many travel books which appeared in the 20 th
century only a few can be mentioned: E.N. *Adler , s Jews in
Many Lands (1905). Jacques * Faitlovitch, who devoted his life
to the Falashas, wrote Quer durch Abessinien (1910; Hebrew:
Massa el ha-Falashim y 1959). Zvi Kasdoi described his jour-
neys in Caucasus, Central Asia, Siberia, and the Far East in
Mamlekhet Ararat (1912) and Mi-Yarketei Tevel (2 vols., 1914).
Among Nahum *Slouschz s many studies on North African
Jewry was Travels in North Africa (1927). Ezriel *Carlebach's
Exotische Juden (1932) included, among other travel reports,
chapters on the descendants of the Marranos of Portugal, the
Chuetas of Majorca, the Doenmeh of Turkey, and the Karaites
of Lithuania. A World Passed By (1933) by Marvin *Lowen-
thal does not describe existing communities but landmarks
and memories of the Jewish past in Europe and North Africa.
Abraham Jacob *Brawer gave an account of his travels in the
Middle East in Avak Derakhim (2 vols., 1944-46). Shmuel

*Yavne'eli's Massa le-Teiman ("Journey to Yemen," 1952), Israel
*Cohen's Travels in Jewry (1953), David S. *Sassoon's Massa
Bavel ("Voyage to Babylonia," 1955), L. *Rabinowitz's Far East
Mission (1952), and Joseph Carmel's Massa el Ahim Nidahim
(1957) are about the Far East. H.Z. Hirschberg's Me-Erez Mevo
ha-Shemesh (1957) is on travels in North Africa. Jacob Beller s
travel books on South America included Jews in Latin Amer-
ica (1969). Henry Shoshkes circled the globe many times. His
travel accounts were published in the Yiddish press, and he
was the author of several books, among them Your World and
Mine (1952). In 1972 Jews in Remote Corners of the World by
Ida Cowen appeared. It described visits to Jewish communi-
ties in the Pacific and in the Far and Near East.

bibliography: M. Kayserling, Christopher Columbus and
the Participation of the Jews in the Spanish and Portuguese Discover-
ies (1907); E.N. Adler (ed.), Jewish Travellers (1930); L. Zunz, in: A.
Asher (ed.), Itinerary of Rabbi Benjamin ofTudela, 2 (1927?), 230-317,
includes bibliography; C. Roth, Jewish Contribution to Civilisation
(1938), 63-86, incl. bibl.; J.D. Eisenstein, Ozar Massaot (1926); S.D.
Goitein, A Mediterranean Society (1967), 42-70, 209-15, 273-352;
L.I. Rabinowitz, Jewish Merchant Adventurers (1948); J.D. Eisen-
stein, Ozar Massaot (1926); E.N. Adler, Jewish Travellers (1930); Yaari,
Sheluhei; A. Epstein, Eldad ha-Dani (1950); A.Z. Aescoly, Sippur
David ha-Reuveni (1940); Zechariah al-Dahiri', Sefer ha-Musar, ed.

by Y. Ratzaby (1965).

[Tovia Preschel]

TRAVELERS AND TRAVELS TO EREZ ISRAEL.

Jewish Travelers

Jews have traveled to see the Holy Land ever since they first
settled in the lands of the Diaspora, i.e., travel by Jews to Erez
Israel began from the time of the Babylonian Exile and in ef-
fect never ceased entirely from then to the present.

During the Second Temple period the focus of attrac-
tion for *pilgrims was the Temple. However, even after the
destruction of the Temple, and after most of the people were
exiled from its land, the attraction of Erez Israel did not
abate. Actual descriptions of the travels by the travelers them-
selves exist only from the middle of the 12 th century. The first
known Jewish traveler who left literary evidence about his
travels was * Judah Halevi. He left Spain in 1140 but apparently
did not reach Erez Israel. The literary evidence which he
left expresses the poet's feelings about the adventures which
befell him on his travels, rather than the adventures them-
selves. Its usefulness lies in that it reveals the profound
emotional motives operating within the traveler to the Holy
Land. The first historical document offering a mostly factu-
ally accurate travel description is the itinerary of ^Benjamin
of Tudela from Spain. He arrived in Erez Israel about 1170. He
describes various geographic sites there, as well as the num-
ber of Jewish inhabitants he found in each place, the condi-
tions under which they lived, the history of the places, histori-
cal identifications, etc. Benjamin arrived before the collapse
of crusader rule, and his accounts are an important source
of information about the situation of the Jews there during
that period.

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TRAVELERS AND TRAVELS TO EREZ ISRAEL

About ten years after the visit of Benjamin of Tudela,
* Pethahiah of Regensburg toured the country. He completes
the picture of the impoverished situation of the Jewish com-
munity at the end of the crusader period, in contrast to the
comfortable situation of contemporary Babylonian Jewry un-
der Muslim rule. His main interest was the *holy places, and
he did not devote much attention to the material conditions
of the Jews. Jacob b. Nethanel, who visited the country and
Jerusalem, apparently before its conquest by Saladin (1187),
was also mainly interested in the holy places and the tombs
of the tannaim and amoraim.

The situation was different during the travels of Judah
*A1-Harizi. He arrived in 1218, after the country had been con-
quered from the crusaders, and after the immigration of 300
rabbis from France and England, some of whom he met in
Jerusalem. The Muslim conquest and the immigration eased
the conditions of the Jewish community there. Al-Harizi
himself attests: "From the day it was conquered by Ishmael-
ites, it was settled by Israelites." In 1238 a journey was made
by R. Jacob, the emissary of R. * Jehiel of Paris, but in contrast
to Al-Harizi he gives almost no description of the situation
of the Jewish community, and concentrates primarily on de-
scribing the holy places and the tombs. A special place among
the settlers of Erez Israel is held by *Nahmanides (1267), who
gives a very somber description of the conditions of the Jews
during his stay. He also describes the destruction and deso-
lation which abounded in the country. Nahmanides' action
in renewing the settlement of Jerusalem was an outstanding
enterprise.

An interesting figure among travelers was *Estori ha-
Parhi, who arrived in 1322. Far from being a mere transitory
tourist, he delved deep into the study of Erez Israel. He inves-
tigated the problem of identifying several places in the coun-
try, displaying an outstanding expertise in Jewish literature
and foreign languages, and approached his subject scientifi-
cally.

Nevertheless, love of Erez Israel was not the legacy of
Jewish scholars or men of letters alone. Simple people, too,
greatly desired to settle there. This is evidenced by the tale
about two Spanish Jews who vowed to immigrate in 1317.
When their attempts proved unsuccessful, one of them asked
R. *Asher b. Jehiel if he could break his vow (Resp. Rosh, 8:11).
In the course of time common people (usually merchants)
came, e.g., Isaac ibn al-Fara of Malaga, Spain, who visited Erez
Israel in 1411 and wrote a letter to Simeon b. Zemah *Duran
in Algiers, describing what he saw there. He also visited the
important cities of Syria. In 1443 he sent a list of the locations
of the holy graves in Erez Israel, which he took from an an-
cient book in his possession, to Solomon b. Simeon *Duran.
The two letters are lost but they were summarized in Abraham
*Zacuto's Sefer Yuhasin. In 1473 an anonymous traveler went
there from Candia, and numerous others went there from Italy
in the second half of the 15 th century. The most famous among
these were R. Meshullam of Volterra (1481), a wealthy mer-
chant, whose book of travels is very important from a histori-

cal point of view, and Obadiah of *Bertinoro (1488-90), who
became one of the greatest rabbis of Erez Israel of his time;
three of his letters from there are among the most beautiful
in travel literature.

In the 16 th century a considerable number of Italian Jews
traveled to the Holy Land. The book of travels of Moses *Ba-
sola (1521-23) is a gem among travel literature. In 1563 the
wealthy merchant Elijah of Pesaro settled there, and his book
contains a detailed description of the means of travel from
Italy to Erez Israel. The description of the economic condi-
tions prevailing there in the 16 th century is also detailed and
enlightening. This is reflected in a letter from David di Rossi,
a merchant who was a fellow-countryman of Elijah, and who
journeyed there in 1535. Solomon Shlomil Meinstril from
Resnitz, Moravia, arrived in Safed at the end of 1602, and his
letters are filled with realistic descriptions of the Safed com-
munity, its spiritual life, its economic situation, relations with
non-Jews, climate, etc. Isaiah ^Horowitz tells about his travels
in his letters and describes Safed, where he arrived in 1620,
and his visits to the tombs of the zaddikim y as well as his jour-
ney to Jerusalem.

During the 17 th and 18 th centuries Karaite pilgrims went
to Erez Israel from the Crimean Peninsula, after having vowed
to undertake the journey. The descriptions of the travels of
*Samuel b. David (1641-42), Moses b. Elijah (1654-55), and
^Benjamin b. Elijah (1785-86) are filled with religious fervor
and love of the Holy Land. The Karaites used to bestow the title
Yerushalmi ("Jerusalemite") on every immigrant, and such an
event was a great celebration for the entire community.

One of the travelers in the famous group of * Judah Hasid
was Gedaliah of Siemiatycze, from Poland. In his book, Sha'alu
Shelom Yerushalayim, he describes the adventures of the trav-
elers, as well as life in Jerusalem. The adventures undergone
by Abraham Roiyo and his group (1702) during their travels to
Erez Israel, as well as the yeshivah built by him, are described
in a letter written by one of the travelers. There is a series of
letters and stories about travels to and in Erez Israel in con-
nection with the immigration (1741) of Hayyim *Attar, author
of Or ha- Hayyim.

In 1746 Abraham Gershom of Kutow, brother-in-law of
*Israel b. Eliezer Baal Shem Tov, immigrated there. He served
as the first bridge for the great hasidic immigration. As a re-
sult, there are numerous travel descriptions written by settlers
and travelers who went from eastern Galicia and Volhynia, the
provinces where Hasidism originated. In 1760 Joseph Sofer
journeyed there from Berestzka in Volhynia province. He re-
lated in his letter that there was a gradual but regular immi-
gration from Poland. In 1764 two hasidic leaders from east-
ern Galicia, *Nahman of Horodenka and *Menahem Mendel
of Peremyshlyany, arrived with the groups of hasidic immi-
grants. Information about their journey is given by a Galician
Jew, who recounts the stories of his travel to Erez Israel in a
book entitled Ahavat Ziyyon.

In the framework of the hasidic immigration, an espe-
cially great role was played by the Hasidim of Lithuania and

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Rydzyna, whose leaders describe, among other things, their
travels and immigration in their letters (1777), as well as the
situation of the Jews of Erez Israel at the time. The most fa-
mous traveler was R. *Nahman of Bratslav, who traveled in
1798-99, and who regarded the Holy Land as the center of his
hasidic teaching. About 30 years after the move by Hasidim
to settle in Erez Israel, their opponents, the Mitnaggedim,
also felt the spiritual need to settle there. The first group of
the disciples of R. Elijah, the Gaon of Vilna, traveled there in
1808, and settled in Safed. Two additional groups of R. Eli-
jah's disciples went in 1809. Their letters give expression to
the religious yearning of the immigrants, and the great call
on Diaspora Jewry to take part in the settlement of the land.
Supplementary information about this immigration is given
in the book of travels of R. *David D'Beth Hillel, who joined
the disciples of the Gaon in Safed, in 1815, but did not remain
with them long, and left to wander around the country. In 1824
R. David D'Beth Hillel left to tour the world. The description
of his travels in Erez Israel is the only one of its kind by a Jew
during the first quarter of the 19 th century. His diary is also of
historical significance, because he is generally precise in the
facts which he presents. In 1833 Menahem Mendel of Kamie-
niec arrived in Erez Israel. He published a small work entitled
Korot ha-Ittim in 1840, describing the terrible sufferings of the
Jews of Safed as a result of the fellahin's rebellion against Ibra-
him Pasha. He devotes a special chapter to describing daily
life in Erez Israel.

In 1833 R. Yehoseph *Schwarz from Bavaria settled in
Erez Israel. He was not an ordinary traveler. Like Estori ha-
Parhi in the 14 th century, R. Yehoseph Schwarz devoted all his
strength and energy to the study of the country. He covered
its length and breadth, dealing with its borders, antiquities,
flora, climate, etc. His book, Tevubt ha-Arez (1845), is the ma-
jor product of his investigations, and was translated into Ger-
man and English. In a letter written in 1837, he describes the
quality of life in Jerusalem, its holy places, and the climate and
productivity of the country.

Travel literature and the history of travels in the 19 th cen-
tury accompany the first manifestations of national revival and
the renewal of Jewish settlement. Moses *Montefiore and his
wife, Judith, made seven trips. She kept a detailed travel diary
about her second trip with her husband (1839). Eliezer Halevi,
Montefiore's secretary and right-hand man, described in four
letters what he had seen in his tour throughout the country,
in which he spent two months (1838).

The beginning of Zionism may be associated with the
activity of Jehiel Michael Tines, who traveled throughout
the country in 1878 examining the quality of land suitable for
settlement. He tells about these travels in his letter. The his-
torian Ze'ev * Jawitz, who immigrated in 1887, tells in his letter
about his arrival and his visits to various places. There is also
the description by Mordecai b. Hillel, among the first of the
Hovevei Zion, who visited the new yishuv in 1889. In his book
of travels, he describes the situation of the moshavot, as well
as the way of life of the old yishuv in Jerusalem.

The travels of Zionist leaders *Ahad Ha- Am (1891) and

Theodor *Herzl (1898) to Erez Israel exemplify the new trend

in travel (see ^Zionism).

[Menahem Schmelzer]

Christian Travelers

Numerous travel descriptions were written from the 12 th cen-
tury to modern times by Christian pilgrims who went to Erez
Israel to visit the holy places of their faith, and other travelers
who wandered through the countries of the East and visited
the Holy Land. Among them were some who were not adept
at literary expression, whose travels were described by com-
panions or by someone to whom they told their story. Their
writings are often nothing more than a list of the Christian
holy places visited by pilgrims, the pilgrimage "stations," and
the prayers which were to be said at these places. Many of
the pilgrim-travelers, however, were priests and intellectuals,
who could describe their travels in works which bore a liter-
ary character. All such works were called in Latin itineraria.
Since many of the pilgrims visited Syria and Egypt as well,
their travel books include interesting information about these
countries also. These works are important sources not only for
the history of Erez Israel, and especially for the study of its
topography, but also for the history of Oriental civilization in
general, including data about the social and economic condi-
tions. On the other hand, all the itineraries show the authors
to be aliens unfamiliar with the way of life of the country, es-
pecially with the languages spoken by its inhabitants; they
required the mediation of guides and translators, who often
misled them. The tendency to believe legends was almost
general in the Middle Ages. However, in the course of the
generations in which travel descriptions were written by the
Christians who went to Erez Israel, the nature of these writ-
ings underwent changes according to the national and social
origin of their authors, as well as according to their approach
to matters relating to the country.

A few itineraries from the period preceding the Crusades
have been preserved. Most of them were written in Latin by
West European priests, and some of them were written in
Greek by Byzantine priests. Their character was determined by
that of the authors: they concentrate mainly on descriptions of
the holy places, the monasteries, etc. The earliest extant itiner-
ary is by an anonymous author called the "Bordeaux Pilgrim,"
who gives an account of his journey from France, through Italy
and the Balkans, to Erez Israel, where he describes, naturally
first and foremost, the Christian holy places in Jerusalem.
This journey was apparently made in the 330s (333?). About
50 years later an itinerary was written which is attributed to
Saint Silvia of Aquitania. The authoress spent three years in
the countries of the Orient and, after a lengthy stay in Erez
Israel, also visited Syria and Mesopotamia. Her description of
her travels is so detailed that it is an invaluable aid for the study
of topography. One of the most popular works from that time
was the description of the journey undertaken by the French
bishop Arculfus, around 670. Arculfus spent nine months in
Jerusalem, visiting the shore of the Dead Sea, the northern

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part of the country, Damascus, and Tyre, and later traveling
to Constantinople. He finally arrived in Scotland, where he
told the head of an Irish monastery about his travels, and the
latter wrote down his story This work is important in that it
is the first (known) work from the period of Muslim rule in
Erez Israel and the neighboring countries. A detailed travel
book, which gives a lengthy description of the adventures and
tribulations of a western pilgrim in the Oriental countries, is
the travel description by St. Willibald, who went to Erez Israel
in 723. Willibald was an Englishman, but he became bishop
of Eichstadt, Germany.

Beginning with the First Crusade there was an increasing
number of pilgrims who wrote descriptions of their travels.
The types of traveler-authors became more variegated, and the
establishment of Frankish rule in Erez Israel and a few Syrian
provinces resulted in the broadening of the travelers' scope of
interests, and they included in their books topics other than
just the holy places. Of greatest interest among the works writ-
ten in the second half of the 12 th century are the travel descrip-
tions of Saewulf, who went to Erez Israel while making a sea
voyage and visiting Greece and Constantinople (1102-03), an d
those by the Russian ascetic, Daniel (1106-08), whose work is
one of the first written in Russian. From the second half of the
12 th century, mention should be made of the travel descrip-
tions of Nicolaeus Saemundarson, the head of a monastery in
northern Ireland (1151-54), of Johannes of Wurtzburg (1165),
and the description of Erez Israel by Johannes Phocas (1177).
The most important among the itineraries of the 13 th century
are the works by the Germans Wilbrand of Oldenburg (1212)
and Thietmar (1217), the book by Sabbas, archbishop of Ser-
bia (1225-27), written in ancient Slavic, and the work by Per-
diccas, protonotary of Ephesus (c. 1250). From the end of the
century there is a description of the "Holy Land" by Burchar-
dus of Mount Zion (de Monte Sion; 1283), which is not actu-
ally an itinerary but rather a work by a monk who lived in
Erez Israel for a long time.

After the elimination of the last remnant of crusader rule
in Jerusalem, i.e., the conquest of Acre in 1291, the pilgrimage
movement increased. Many of the visitors and travelers wrote
about their travels, and hence a greater number of itineraries
is preserved from the 14 th century than from earlier periods,
and they are more varied. During this period the pilgrims be-
gan to write their works in their national languages as well. Of
these, special mention should be made of the travel descrip-
tions by the Irish monk Simeon Simeonis (1332); the German
priest Ludolf of Suchem, who spent the years 1336-41 in the
countries of the Orient and described them in a Latin and
German work; the Italian monk Niccolo da Poggibonsi (1345)
who wrote in Italian "A Book about the Land Across the Sea";
and the Russian priest Ignatius of Smolensk, who went to Erez
Israel at the end of the century and described the Christian
holy places in his mother tongue. Of the emissary- spy type was
a German nobleman, Wilhelm of Boldensele, who was a mem-
ber of the Dominican Order and visited Erez Israel (1333) as an
emissary of a French cardinal connected with plans for a new

Crusade. The detailed itinerary by the monk Giacomo of Ve-
rona (1335), written in Latin, is a combined guide for pilgrims
and exploration of possibilities of a new Crusade. Itineraries of
a completely different type were written by three Florentines,
Lionardo Frescobaldi, Simone Sigoli, and Giorgio Gucci, who
went to Erez Israel in 1384 byway of Egypt and returned by
way of Syria. The three pilgrims were secular and their travel
books reflect the secular-commercial approach of the towns-
men. They abound in descriptions of the economic and so-
cial life and they also contain exact data about expenditures.
With the increase in pilgrimages high-ranking noblemen also
went to Erez Israel in that generation and their travels were
described by their companions. Among these was the future
King Henry iv of England (1392/93). Mention should also be
made of the travelers during that century who visited in all
the Oriental countries and did not go especially to Erez Israel,
but in whose travel books the description of Erez Israel plays
a major role. Among these were the Italian Odorico de Por-
denone (1320), the Englishman John of Mandeville (c. 1336),
and the Italian Giovanni de Marignola (1350).

The 15 th century was the classic period of Christian pil-
grimage to Erez Israel in the sense that the pilgrimage move-
ment was more intense, its forms were more crystallized, and
the composition of the pilgrims in terms of their origins was
more variegated than in any preceding period. The proportion
of priests was smaller than formerly while the proportion of
the bourgeois was larger. The variety of pilgrims is reflected
by the variety of itineraries preserved from that century. Some
travelers did not take the short sea-route from Italy to the
shores of Erez Israel, but wandered in many countries on the
way to and from Erez Israel, since their entire purpose was to
gather information about the strength of the armies and for-
tifications in the Holy Land itself and its neighboring coun-
tries. There are many itineraries of noblemen from various
countries who went to Erez Israel during the 15 th century and
whose travels are described by their companions. Especially
characteristic of the pilgrimages of that time was the broad
participation of the urban laymen. These bourgeois came from
various countries. However, the most important itineraries in
terms of their comprehensiveness and the value of their in-
formation about the contemporary social scene in Erez Israel
were still those written by priests. Among the itineraries of
churchmen of the 15 th century, especially significant are the
works of the Italians Santo Brasca (1480) and Pietro Casola
(1494), and of the Germans Bernhard of Breidenbach and Felix
Fabri, who went to Erez Israel in 1483. Both Bernhard of Brei-
denbach, who was a priest in Mainz, and Felix Fabri, who was
a Dominican monk in Ulm, wrote travel books. Their works,
especially that by Fabri, are, on the one hand, travel descrip-
tions, and, on the other, studies in the history of Erez Israel,
its settlement, and the holy places. Naturally, in many of the
descriptions of travels, which were written in the course of
hundreds of years, there is also information about the meet-
ings between the pilgrims and Jews in various places and es-
pecially about the places of origin of these Jews. Although

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TRAVELERS AND TRAVELS TO EREZ ISRAEL

most of the authors display a marked orthodoxy and even
extreme religious zealousness, with regard to this matter they
were simply reporting.

Of greater historical significance are the Christian itin-
eraries from the 16 th century on, which mainly describe the
population in general and the Christians in particular. How-
ever, the Jewish population was increasing in Safed and later
in Jerusalem, Tiberias, and Hebron, and the Christian travel-
ers, now mostly coming from the various German countries,
from Spain, and later from France and England as well, did not
miss the opportunity to describe their meetings with the Jews.
They also tell about religious discussions conducted between
themselves and the Jews, with whom they found a common
tongue (German, Spanish) and whose houses often provided
clean and secure inns, and polite hospitality (in places where
there were no monasteries or inns for pilgrims). These travel
books, especially because they were numerous and sometimes
contained contradictory views, serve as a primary source for
the history of the Jews of Erez Israel during the Ottoman pe-
riod, since most of them perhaps quite unintentionally gave
expression to a completely objective picture. The many travel
books, amounting to about 120 in all, which were written by
Christian travelers in the course of 400 years (i6 th -i9 th cen-
turies) add up to a considerable historical treasure.

It is impossible to review here all the Christian travel
books published during this period, particularly since many
of them merely parrot the words of their predecessors. How-
ever, some of them should be mentioned: the travel book of
the Franciscan monk from Portugal, Pantaleao de Aveiro,
Itinerario da Terra Sancta (c. 1565, publ. 1927); of the French
Franciscan monk Jaques Goujon, Histoire et Voyage de la Terre
Sainte (Lyons, 1571); of John Sanderson, who was in Erez Israel
in 1601, The Travels of John Sanderson, 1584-1602 (publ. 1931);
of George Sandys, A Relation of a Journey, A Description of the
Holy Land of the Jewes (London 5 , 1652); and especially the de-
scription by the monk-missionary Eugene Roger (c. 1630), La
Terre Sainte (1664). The learned Dutchman Olaf Dapper col-
lected much information which he found in works by preced-
ing scholars, added his own eyewitness accounts, and wrote a
complete description of Erez Israel, first published in Amster-
dam in 1681, and later in German translation in Nuremberg,
1688-89, Asia, oder genaue und gruendliche Beschreibung des
gantzen Syrien und Palestins. This is not an original work but
it includes considerable geographic-historical material. The
broad travel memoirs of L. de Arvieux, who served as French
consul and ambassador in Algeria and Tunisia (1664-65)
and later as special ambassador to the sultan in Constanti-
nople (1672-73), and finally as consul with broad authority in
Aleppo (1682-88), adapted De la Roque, Voyage dans la Pal-
estine (Amsterdam, 1718). The Dutchman Cornellius le Bruya
undertook a comprehensive tour of Asia Minor, the Aegean
Isles, Egypt, Syria, and Erez Israel at the end of the century.
His work, which includes numerous illustrations (about 200
copper engravings), was published in Dutch, translated into
French and from French into English: A Voyage to the Levant,

etc. (London, 1702). Of lasting scholarly worth is the work by
Thomas Shaw, Travels or Observations relating to several parts
ofBarbary and the Levant (Oxford, 1738).

Among the numerous travelers of the 18 th century spe-
cial mention should also be made of Richard Pococke (1738),
A Description of the East 11/1 (London, 1745); Frederick Has-
selquirst (1751), Voyages and Travels in the Levant (London,
1766); and especially the Frenchman C.-J. Volney, Travels etc.
(1783-85; London, 1788), who visited the countries of the Ori-
ent at a young age and who in his travel description offers a
brilliant analysis of the political situation and of the strategic
plans already formulated at that time, ten years before Napo-
leon prepared to conquer Egypt.

After Napoleons campaign of conquest in the area, and
despite his failure, there was an increasing number of Chris-
tian travelers who went to Erez Israel not necessarily from
purely religious motives. There were among them important
scholars such as Edward Robinson, E. Picrotti, C.R. Conder,
and many others who opened up Erez Israel for Muslim
scholarship and who cannot be regarded as traveler-tourists
in the accepted sense. The travel works devoted to describ-
ing the Ottoman Empire, Egypt, and North Africa, often
contain descriptions dealing with Erez Israel which mention
Jews as well.

Muslim Travelers

Throughout the Middle Ages and in modern times numerous
Muslims have gone to * Jerusalem to pray at the mosque on the
Temple Mount, which is considered one of the holy places of
* Islam. These pilgrims also came from many countries. How-
ever, despite the richness of Arabic literature, almost no books
are devoted solely to descriptions of these travels. It should be
pointed out that also in relation to travels to Mecca no liter-
ary branch developed similar to the descriptions of Christian
travels to Erez Israel.

A book describing travels to Erez Israel and Mecca was
written by the Spanish judge Abu al-Baqa Khalid b. Tsa al-
Balawi, who set out in 1336. This work, however, is in part
a copy of itineraries by earlier writer-travelers. The mystic
Abd al-Ghani b. Ismail al-Nabulusi, who lived in *Damas-
cus, wrote a description of a journey to Jerusalem at the end
of the 17 th century. However, these works did not become
well known in Arabic literature, and if one were interested in
a description of Erez Israel one would have to resort to works
describing long journeys and general works on geography.
Especially interesting among these itineraries are the Persian
work Sefer Nameh ("The Book of Travel") by Nasir-i Khosrau,
who visited Erez Israel in 1047; the Arabic work Rihla ("The
Journey"), by Abu al-Husayn Muhammad ibn Jubayr, who
visited Erez Israel in 1184; and the work by the world traveler
Ibn Battuta, who visited Erez Israel in 1326-30, on his long
journey in Eastern Asia from which he returned in 1348. The
descriptions of Erez Israel included in the works of Arabic
geographers of the classical school were also the product of
personal observations and investigations. These geographers,

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ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TRAVNIK

the most important of whom lived in the tenth century, based
their works on firsthand research in various countries to which
they traveled. The three outstanding representatives of this
school were al-Istakhri (c. 950), Ibn Hawqal al-Nasibi (977),
and Muhammad b. Ahmad, called al-Maqdisi (the Jerusale-
mite, who wrote in 985).

The Muslims also composed itineraries for pilgrims,
similar to the itineraries written by Christian clerics for the
pilgrims who came to worship at the holy places. The most
famous, Kitdb al-Ishdrdt ild mar if at al-Ziydrdt ("Guide for the
Places of Pilgrimage"), written by Ali b. Abi Bakr Al-Harawi
(d. 1214), includes the vast material he collected on long jour-
neys. The work is not limited to a description of the Muslim
holy places in Erez Israel, but lists holy places in other coun-
tries as well. Such itineraries generally contained sayings at-
tributed to *Muhammad about the holiness of Jerusalem and
especially about the mosque of the Dome of the Rock, as well
as reviews of the history of Jerusalem.

More numerous were the works containing only say-
ings about the holiness of Jerusalem and especially of the
mosques on the Temple Mount. Such works on the "praises
of Jerusalem" became characteristic of the Muslim literature
of Erez Israel. In the second half of the 11 th century Abu 1-
Ma c ali al-Musharraf b. al-Murajja (d. 1099), a Jerusalemite,
composed such a work, entitled Fadail Bayt al-Maqdis wa
al-Sham ("The Qualities of Jerusalem and Damascus"). Al-
Qasim ibn c Asakir (d. 1203) wrote a work about the al-Aqsa
Mosque, and his relative, Nizam al-DIn (d. 1274), wrote Fadail
al-Quds ("The Qualities of Jerusalem"). While the manuscripts
of these writings have not been found, there are extant manu-
scripts of a book praising Jerusalem which was written by the
Baghdad historian, Abu al-Faraj ibn al-Jawzi (d. 1200). In the
14 th century Burhan al-din Ibrahim ibn al-Firkah, a teacher
in Damascus (d. 1329), wrote Baith al-Nufus ild Ziydrdt al-
Quds al-Mahrus ("He who Stirs his Soul to Visit Preserved
Jerusalem"). In 1351 in Jerusalem itself, Shihab al-din Ahmad
b. Muhammad b. Ibrahim ibn Hilal wrote a similar book en-
titled Muthir al-Ghardm ild Ziydrdt al-Quds wa al-Sham ("The
Arouser of Desire to Visit Jerusalem and Damascus"). In the
mid-i4 th century the Hebronite preacher Ishaq b. Ibrahim
al-Tadmuri wrote about the cave of *Machpelah as a place
of pilgrimage. In 1470 the Egyptian Shams al-DIn al-Suyuti
wrote in Jerusalem about the "Outer Mosque." These works
were preserved and published, and some of them were even
translated into English. The most important of these books is
the comprehensive work about Jerusalem and Hebron written
in 1494/95 by the Jerusalemite judge Mujir al-DIn al- c Ulaymi
entitled al-Uns al-Jalil bi-Tarikh al-Quds wa al-Khalil ("A
Weighty Discussion of the History of Jerusalem and the City
of the Friend [Abraham] - Hebron"). This work contains all
the sayings about the holiness of Jerusalem attributed to the
prophet of Islam, as well as a detailed description of the holy
city and the other towns of Erez Israel (the book was printed
in Cairo in 1293 a.h.). Works about Jerusalem continued to
be written during the period of Ottomon rule. In the mid-

17 th century a judge from Medina, Nasir al-din Muhammad
b. Khidr al-Rumi al-Jalali, wrote a book entitled Al-Mustaqsd
ft Fadl al-Ziydrdt bi al-Masjid al-Aqsa ("The Book Concern-
ing the Right to Visit the Outer Mosque"). This work differs
from the traditional type of the Muslim "praises of Jerusalem"
in that it contains a detailed guide for pilgrims.

In summation, the Arabic writings about Erez Israel,
most of which contain "praises of Jerusalem," generally lack
factual-documentary content. In contrast, the descriptions of
the Turkish traveler Evliya Qelebi, who visited Erez Israel twice
(first in 1649 and then in 1660-61), are of great significance.
He was an experienced statesman-scholar, whose sharp eyes
observed the situation of the population, the administrative
division of the country, the changes which had occurred dur-
ing the time between his two visits, and the amount of taxes
collected. He paid attention to the Jewish populations of all
the countries he visited. Of special importance in connection
with the situation of Erez Israel is his recounting of the mass
exodus of the Jews of *Safed, which took place in his time, and
the mention of the custom of pilgrimage to Meron, which in
his time was not yet celebrated on Lag ba-Omer. Evliya (Jelebi,
however, was the last Muslim traveler to devote part of his

work to Erez Israel.

[Eliyahu Ashtor]

bibliography: R. Roehricht, Bibliotheca Geographica Pa-
laestinae (1890); idem and H. Meisner, Deutsche Pilgerreisen nach
dem heiligen Lande (1880); H. Michelant and G. Raynava, Itinerai-
res a Jerusalem et Descriptions de la Terre Sainte (1882); Reysbuch
des heyligen Lands (Frankfurt on the Main, 1584); Th. Wright, Early
Travels in Palestine (1848); Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society Library, 1-13
(1890-97); S.P. Khitrowo, Itineraires Russes en Orient (1889); I. Ben-
Zvi, Erez Yisrael vi-Yshuvah bi-Ymei ha-Shilton ha-Ottomani (1967 2 );
M. Ish-Shalom, Masei Nozerim le-Erez Yisrael (1965); E.L. Sukenik,
in: ks, 7 (1930/31), 99-101; M. Narkiss, in: Ommanut, 2 (1941), 7-10;
Z. Vilnay, Mazzevot Kodesh be-Erez Yisrael (1963 2 ); P. Thomsen, Die
Palaestina-Literatur, 7 vols. (1908-60), passim; T. Tobler, Bibliographia
geographica Palaestinae (Ger., 1867, 1875); T. Kollek and M. Perlman,
Pilgrims to the Holy Land (1970).

TRAVNIK, town in Bosnia. Under Ottoman rule until Aus-
trian annexation in 1878; within Yugoslavia from 1918. After
^Sarajevo, it had the second most important settlement of
Sephardi Jews in the region; some of them originally lived in
Sarajevo and transferred their residence to Travnik in the 18 th
century. A community was organized by the mid-i8 th century
and a kal santo (synagogue) existed from 1768. The Jews them-
selves constructed it, working daily between the Minhah and
Madriv prayers.

Trouble assailed the community when an apostate, Moses
Habillo, who took the name of Derwish Ahmed, incited a
massacre of the Jews. Many Muslims rioted but disaster was
prevented when Rabbi Raphael Pinto achieved a compro-
mise. Ten Jewish hostages were taken into custody for in-
quiry. They were freed after a ransom was paid on the second
day of Marheshvan (in 1807), which was celebrated for many
years by the community as a feast of deliverance. In 1818 the
local qdimaqam, the viziers representative, accused the Jews

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121

TREASURE, TREASURY

of ritual murder. Some Jews were arrested, but were released
when Muslim notables intervened on their behalf. Apart from
such isolated incidents, and cases of extortions, Jewish com-
munal life remained undisturbed and relations with the ma-
jority of the city's residents were good. The best known rabbi
of Travnik was Abram Abinun. Jews were occupied as black-
smiths, joiners, saddlers, tailors, and shoemakers, dealers in
medicinal plants and folk healers. Some of them were distill-
ers and wheat merchants. In 1878, shortly after Travnik passed
to Austria, a small Ashkenazi community was founded. A
synagogue was erected in 1769. The community had a phil-
anthropic association, Ezrat Dalim, and in the 20 th century
a "Jewish Club" existed there. Until the Holocaust, 375 Jews
lived there peacefully.

In World War 11 the German- Croatian occupation vi-
olently and cruelly clamped down on the community. A
concentration camp was established at nearby Kruscica
(Krooshchitza); survivors were deported and murdered else-
where in Croatia or Poland. The community was not renewed.
The synagogue was used as a workshop.

bibliography: V. Vinaver, in: Jevrejski Almanah (1955/56),
28-34. add. bibliography: J. Konforti, Travnidki Jevreji (1979).

[Zvi Loker]

TREASURE, TREASURY (Treasure: Heb. 121K, 1??, ^n,
]p'n, Ji&tpS, "IJFIpD, ]1D*tt, D^Jtt, nhO; Akk. nisirtu; Treasury:

Heb. (ni)isiKn rn, ^&n n?a, ^\m, didi n , 2; Akk. bit nisirti,

bat nakkamlti). The concepts of treasure and treasury in the
Bible are denoted by many different terms.

Semantic Range of Words Meaning Treasure

Most of the Hebrew words for treasure listed above may be
divided into two semantic groups:

a) Words which mean both treasure and something hid-
den or secret (matmon, mistar, mazpun, nelam).

b) Words which mean both treasure and strength (bezer,
hayil, hosen).

The most common Akkadian term for treasure, nisirtu,
belongs to the first group as may be seen from the following
passage:

Utnapistim ana sdsuma izzakkara ana Gilgames lupteka Gilgames
amat nisirti u pirista sa Hani kdsa luqblka. "Utnapishtim said
to him, to Gilgamesh: 'Let me divulge a hidden matter to you,
O Gilgamesh, And let me tell you a secret of the gods'" (Gil-
gamesh, 11:8-10).

Types of Treasures

While the most common type of treasure referred to is "sil-
ver and gold" (kesef, zahav, e.g., Isa. 2:7; Ezek. 28:4; Eccles. 2:8;
1 Chron. 29:3; cf. Ps. 68:31 where perhaps the reading should
be bezer kesef, so Tur-Sinai), treasures of clothes (e.g., Jer. 38:11;
Zech. 14:14), wine (1 Chron. 27:27), oil (1 Chron. 27:28), food
in general (Joel 1:17; 11 Chron. 11:11), precious stones (1 Chron.
29:8), and dedicated gifts (1 Chron. 26:26) are all represented.
Elsewhere, temple treasures are listed in Ezra 1:9-11 (cf. Ezra
2:68-69; Neh. 7:69 ff) and include gold and silver dishes and

bowls, and gold drachmas and priestly vestments, while royal
treasures are mentioned in 11 Chronicles 32:27-29 (period of
Hezekiah) comprising silver, gold, precious stones, spices,
shields, and miscellaneous items. Babylonia in particular is
singled out for her opulence and is called "the one rich in
treasures" (Jer. 51:13). The treasures of Israel's enemies (heil
goyim) will all come to her when God executes His punish-
ment upon them (Isa. 60:5, 11; 61:6; Zech. 14:14). Treasures
are sometimes described as being transported on the backs
of beasts of burden (Isa. 30:6; 1 Kings 10:2 = 11 Chron. 9:1; cf.
Isa. 66:20). The gold of Ophir is described as "the treasure of
the rivers" (Job 22:24; cf- N.H. Tur-Sinai, in bibl.). Finally, trea-
sures are used as bribes in the Bible. In Jeremiah 41:8 the ten
men who remained after Ishmael son of Nethaniah's massa-
cre of the rest of their group bribed Ishmael to let them live in
return for treasures of wheat, barley, olive oil, and honey, hid-
den in the fields. In 1 Samuel 12:3 and Amos 2:6; 8:6, there are
additional instances of bribes involving treasure. In all three
cases the word nelam, "hidden treasure" (the vocalization of
which is still uncertain) must be restored to the text (in place
of ndalayim, "shoes" in Amos 2:6; 8:6, and *dalim, "I shall
hide" in 1 Sam. 12:3, cf. Septuagint which also reads ndalayim,
"shoes"). This meaning is demonstrated both by Ben Sira 46:19
which paraphrases 1 Samuel 12:3, by juxtaposing the Hebrew
word kofer, "gift," with the word ndalayim, and by Targum
Jonathan which translates ndalayim in Amos 2:6 and 8:6 by a
form of the word hosen, "treasure" (see above).

In extra-biblical sources, mention must be made of the
Copper Scroll discovered in 1952 in Cave 3 of Qumran. This
Copper Scroll consists of three sheets of very thin copper on
which is engraved a Hebrew text. The Hebrew text is a regis-
ter of 64 deposits of buried treasure supposed to be hidden in
and around Qumran (in an area extending from Hebron to
Mt. Gerizim). The objects listed include a silver chest, ingots
of gold and silver, jars of all shapes and sizes, bowls, perfumes,
and perhaps, vestments. It should be noted that the purpose of
the scroll is still a mystery. Among the theories advanced by
scholars are that it is a list of the treasures of the First Temple,
the Second Temple, or the Qumran community. A fourth the-
ory, posited by T.H. Gaster (see bibl.), is that the scroll repre-
sents "an unconscionable fraud [or even a cruel practical joke]
perpetrated by some cynical outsider upon the naive and in-
nocent minds of the ascetics of Qumran."

Treasures in War

The defeated nation often was obliged to give up all of her trea-
sures to the victor (Isa. 39:66°.). For example, Shishak of Egypt
took from Jerusalem the royal treasures, the Temple treasures,
and everything else (1 Kings 14:26 = 11 Chron. 12:9). While
no part of the herem of Jericho after Joshua's conquest could
be taken by any Israelite, all the silver and gold, and the cop-
per and iron vessels were to be added to the Temple treasury
(Josh. 6:19, 24). As part of Israel's punishment, Babylon would
carry off all of her treasures as spoil (Jer. 15:13; 17:3; 20:5); but
the day would also come when Babylon would be punished

122

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TREBIC

in kind (Jer. 50:37). Likewise, Moab (Jer. 48:7) and the Am-
monites (Jer. 49:4), who trusted in their treasures, and Edom
(Jer. 49:10; cf. Obad. 6) would suffer the same consequences. In
extra- biblical sources, the same situation prevailed in times of
war. Sennacherib of Assyria in describing his defeat of Mero-
dach-Baladan of Babylon claims:

Ann ekallisu sa qereb Bab-ili erumma aptema bit nisirtisu hurdsa
kaspa unut hurdsi kaspi abnu aqartu buse makkur ekallisu aslula.
"I entered his palace in Babylon and I opened his treasury. I took
as spoil - gold, silver, gold and silver vessels, precious stones,
valuables, and property of his palace" (D.D. Luckenbill, The An-
nals of Sennacherib (1924), p. 6y y lines 5-6).

Symbolic Treasures

Both Israel and God are spoken of as each others treasure.
Israel is spoken of as God's segullah, "treasured/private pos-
session" (Ex. 19:5; Deut. y:6; 14:2; 26:18; cf. Mai. 3:17; Ps. 135:4;
for this meaning compare likewise Akk. sikiltu). Eliphaz in-
structs Job to return to God and consider the Lord his trea-
sure (Job 22:23-25). There are many references to the heavens
as God's treasure (Deut. 28:12; Jer. 10:13; 51:16; Ps. 135:7), while
various forces of God are described as His treasure (Jer. 50:25;
Ps. 33:6-7; Job 38:22). Finally, wisdom and devotion to God
are described as the treasure of faith (Isa. 33:6).

Concept of Treasure in Wisdom Literature

The connection between wisdom and treasure may best be
seen from those passages where wisdom is personified. Wis-
dom fills the treasuries of those who seek her (Prov. 8:21), and,
in turn, should be sought after like buried treasure (Prov. 2:4).
Elsewhere, there are many references to the treasures of the
wise man, but the fool has none (Prov. 15:6; 21:20). Treasures
gained through wickedness are of no avail (Prov. 10:2), while a
little in the way of material goods plus a good deal of faith are
better than the most precious treasures (Prov. 15:16). Finally,
the acquisition of treasures through deceitful means will cause
their owner's downfall (Prov. 21:6 ff), a theme which has sev-
eral extra- biblical parallels. In an Akkadian composition en-
titled "Counsels of Wisdom," the following advice is given:

My son, if it be the desire of the prince that you be his, if you
are entrusted with his closely guarded seal, open his treasure
house [nisirtasu], enter into [it]; apart from you there is not an-
other man [who may enter into it]. You will find therein untold
wealth. Do not covet anything. Do not take it into your head
to conceal something. For afterwards, the matter will be in-
vestigated, and what you have concealed will come to light . . .
(W.G. Lambert, Babylonian Wisdom Literature (i960), p. 102,
lines 81 ff.).

Treasury

Of the three words for treasury listed above, only one, bet nek-
hot ', was not understood until fairly recently. The context of
the single biblical verse in which this term occurs (11 Kings
20:13 = I sa - 39 :2 ) showed that it must mean treasury, but the
origin of the term was still a mystery. It is now known that
bet nekhot is a loanword from the Akkadian bit nakkamdti y
"treasury." Both the Hebrew and Akkadian nouns have cor-

responding verbs, 5 zr and nakdmu y meaning "to amass, store
up." For example, Ashurbanipal boasts in his annals about his
conquest of Susa:

Aptema bit nakkamdtisu (nu) sa kaspu hurdsu busu makkuru
nukkumu qrebsun. "I opened his treasure house wherein sil-
ver, gold, valuables and property were stored ..." (M. Streck,
Assurbanipal... (1916), p. 50, lines 132-4).

Elsewhere, 'ozrot bet YHWH y "Temple treasury" (e.g., 1 Kings
7:51 = 11 Chron. 5:1), and dzrot bet ha-melekh y "palace trea-
sury" (e.g., 1 Kings 14:26), are often mentioned together. For
example, Asa gave all he had in both treasuries to Ben-Hadad
(1 Kings 15:18 = 11 Chron. 16:2), Joash gave up both his trea-
suries to Hazael (11 Kings 12:19), an d Nebuchadnezzar took
everything from the treasuries in Jerusalem (e.g., 11 Kings
24:13; 11 Chron. 36:10, 18). Another instance is the discussion
between Isaiah and Hezekiah concerning the delegation sent
by the Babylonian king to see Hezekiah (11 Kings 20:12 ff. =
Isa. 39:1 ff). Finally, the term genazim is used three times in
the latest biblical books to refer to the treasury of Persia (Esth.
3:9; 4:7) and the treasuries of multicolored garments of many
nations (Ezek. 27:24).

bibliography: H. Zimmern, Akkadische Fremdwoerter
(1917), 8; M. Greenberg, in: jaos, 71 (1951), 172-4; T.H. Gaster, The
Dead Sea Scriptures (1956), 382-5; M.Z. Segal, Sifrei Shemuel (1964),
86-87; N.H. Tur-Sinai, The Book of Job (1967), 347-8.

[Chayim Cohen]

TREBIC (Czech Trebic; Ger. Trebitsch), town in W. Moravia,
Czech Republic. The Trebic community was considered one of
the oldest in Moravia; it is alleged that a synagogue was built
in 938. During the wave of massacres of Jews in 1338, which
commenced in *Pulkau, some Trebic Jews were killed. The
first documentary mention of the community concerns an
attack on Jews and robbery in 1410. In 1464 it was destroyed
along with the rest of the town. Jewish matters were included
in the Stadtordnung ("municipal regulations") of 1583. In 1604
the majority of Treble's merchants were Jews. The old syna-
gogue was allegedly built in 1639-42; in 1757 its roof had to
be lowered so that its lights could not be seen from the castle.
It was damaged three times by fire and was redesigned sev-
eral times, the last time in neo- Gothic style in 1880. Services
were held until World War 1. Since 1954 it has been used by
the Hussite Church. The new synagogue was built in the early
17 th century and renovated in 1845. After World War 1, it fell
into disuse. After World War 11, it was converted into a Jew-
ish museum.

In 1727 Jews were compelled to live segregated from
Christians. In 1848 the Jews were prevented from organizing a
Jewish unit in the National Guard. Becoming one of the Poli-
tischen Gemeinden ("political communities," see *Politische
Gemeinde) in 1849, Trebic retained this status until the dis-
solution of the Hapsburg monarchy. After freedom of move-
ment and settlement had been granted to Jews, the community
began to decline, many moving to * Vienna, *Brno, * Jihlava,

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

123

TREBITSCH, ABRAHAM

and other larger cities. Whereas in 1799 there were 1,770 Jews
in the Jewish quarter of Trebic, and in 1850 the community
numbered 1,605, m i^o their number declined to 987; in 1900
to 756; in 1921 to 362; and in 1930 to 300. During the German
occupation, in May 1942, 1,370 Jews from *Jihlava province
were assembled in Trebic and deported to *Theresienstadt;
only 35 of them survived the war. A small congregation was
reestablished in 1945. In 1957 a memorial tablet for the victims
of the Holocaust was dedicated.

Born in Trebic were Wolfgang *Wessely, the first Jewish
university teacher in Austria; Adolf Kurrein (1846-1919), one
of the first Zionist rabbis in Austria; and Sigmund Taussig
(1840-1910), a pioneer in the field of hydro-engineering.

bibliography: Kofatek, in: H. Gold (ed.), Die Juden und
Judengemeinden Maehrens (1929), 523-37; A. Engel, in: jgjjc, 2 (1930);
Kahana, in: Kobez al Jad, 4 (1946/47), 183-92; Vestnik zdovske obce
ndbozenske v Praze y 20:1 (1958), 4; Der Orient, 5 (1844), 308. add.
bibliography: J. Fiedler, Jewish Sights of Bohemia and Moravia
(1991), 184-85.

[Meir Lamed / Yeshayahu Jelinek (2 nd ed.)]

TREBITSCH, ABRAHAM (Reuven Hayyat; b. 1760), Mora-
vian historical author. Born in Trebic, he attended a Prague
yeshivah c. 1775, and later in *Mikulov was secretary of the
Moravian *Landesrabbiner. His history, Korot ha-Ittim (Bru-
enn, 1801), contains "tales of all the wars from 1741 to 1801
which were waged in the countries of Austria, Prussia, France,
and England and all that Jews went through in those days."
Intended as a continuation of Menahem *Amelander s Sheerit
Yisrael (Amsterdam, 1743), it differs from it by covering non-
Jewish as well as Jewish history. It was published simultane-
ously in Yiddish as Tsaytgeshikhte. The work is important
mainly for its traditionalist evaluation of the reforms of ^Jo-
seph 11. In 1851 Jacob *Bodek published a revised edition
entitled Korot Nosafot y and there also exists an edition ap-
parently plagiarized by Bodek's brother-in-law. Along with
Hirsch Menaker, Trebitsch wrote Ruah Hayyim y an account
of the exorcism of a *dibbuk in Mikulov (Vienna, 1785; Yid.
(same title), Bruenn, 1785; repr. in several editions of Moshe
Graf's Zera Kodesh).

bibliography: R. Kestenberg-Gladstein, Die neuere Ge-
schichte der Juden in den boehmischen Laendern y 1 (1969), index; I.

Halpern, in: ks, 29 (i953/54)> i74~5-

[Meir Lamed]

TREBITSCH, MOSES LOEB BEN WOLF (18 th century),
Central European Hebrew scribe-illuminator, from Trebic in
Moravia. He was one of the pioneer figures in the renaissance
of Jewish manuscript art at the beginning of the 18 th century.
At least a dozen works from his gifted pen are known - most
of them Passover Haggadot. His pen drawings, usually set off
by wash, are well-composed, small genre paintings. The family
scene which he prefixed to the Van G elder n Haggadah (1723)
and a companion work now in the Hebrew Union College,
Cincinnati (1716-17), are among the outstanding specimens
of the new Jewish miniature art of the period.

bibliography: Landsberger, in: huca, 23 (1950-51), 503-21;

Namenyi, in: rej, 16 (1957), 59-60.

[Cecil Roth]

TREBITSCH, NEHEMIAH (Menahem Nahum; 1779-1842),
Moravian rabbi. Trebitsch taught at the Prague yeshivot of
Jacob Guensburg and Simon Kuh before becoming rabbi in
Prossnitz (1826-32). He was subsequently appointed Landes-
rabbiner of Moravia with his seat in Nikolsburg. The right
bestowed upon him by the provincial government (1833) to
appoint candidates for vacant rabbinates was canceled in 1838
because of his persistent refusal to nominate rabbis with liberal
leanings. This cancellation was also influenced by his opposi-
tion to the use of German in sermons for which he had been
officially censured. However, he consented to, and participated
in, the establishment of a Hebrew- German industrial school.
He wrote glosses to the Jerusalem Talmud, and Kovez al Yad
ha-Hazakah (8 vols., 1835-42), notes on Maimonides' Yad.

bibliography: A. Schlesinger, Kol Nehi (Heb. and Ger.,
1842), eulogy and biography; L. Loew, Gesammelte Schriften, 2 (1900),
195-212; H. Gold (ed.), Juden und Judengemeinden Maehrens (1929),
500 and index; I. Kahn, in: A. Engel (ed.), Gedenkbuch im Auftrag
des Kuratoriums Nikolsburg (1936), 71-74; A.H. Weiss, Zikhronotai

(1895), 41-45.

[Oskar K. Rabinowicz]

TREBITSCH, SIEGFRIED (1869-1956), Austrian novelist,
playwright, and translator. The son of a Viennese silk mer-
chant, Trebitsch was a great traveler. His first volume of po-
etry, Gedichte (1889), was followed after prolonged intervals by
Wellen und Wege (1913) and Aus verschuetteten Tiefen (1947).
He was, however, better known as a prose writer and wrote
many psychological novels, including Genesung (1902), Spaetes
Licht (1918), and Renate Aldringen (1929). Die Rache ist mein
(1934) was a volume of novellas. Trebitsch's plays include Ein
Muttersohn (1911), Frau Gittas Suehne (1920), and Das Land
der Treue (1926). His German translations of George Bernard
Shaw's plays (in various editions from the turn of the century
on) paved the way for Shaw's European vogue. Following the
Anschluss in 1938, Trebitsch, a convert to Christianity, settled
in Switzerland. His autobiography, Chronik eines Lebens (1951;
Chronicle of a Life y 1953), is an informative and entertaining
firsthand account of the European literary scene.

[Harry Zohn]

His stepbrother, Arthur trebitsch (1880-1927), was
also a writer in Vienna. Like Siegfried he abandoned Judaism
and, as a disciple of Otto *Weininger, was a notorious antisem-
ite. His book Geist und Judentum (1919) blamed the defeat of
the Central Powers during World War 1 and the subsequent
collapse of the Hohenzollern and Hapsburg dynasties on Jew-
ish machinations. His Deutscher Geist - oder Judentum (1921)
utilized the forged Protocols of the Elders ofZion to prove the
existence of a Jewish conspiracy to dominate and debauch
the world. An admirer of Houston Stewart ^Chamberlain,
whose racial theories he developed to a pathological extreme,

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ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TREBLINKA

Trebitsch vilified his fellow Jews until his death and even of-
fered his services to the Austrian Nazis.

bibliography: G. Schuberth, Arthur Trebitsch, sein Leben
und sein Werk (1927); R. Mueller- Guttenbrunn, Der brennende
Mensch: Das geistige Vermaechtnis von Arthur Trebitsch (1930); T.
Lessing, Juedischer Selbsthass (1930), 101-31; F. Heer, Der Glaube des
Adolf Hitler (1968), index; S. Liptzin, Germany's Stepchildren (1944),
189-94.

TREBLINKA, one of the three Aktion Reinhard death camps
during World War 11, second only to ^Auschwitz in the num-
ber of Jews killed. Known until then as a small railroad sta-
tion between Siedlce and Malkinia, located approximately 62
miles (100 km.) northeast of Warsaw. The Germans built a
railway spur that led from the labor camp to the death camp
and to the railway station in the village of Treblinka. Heavily
wooded, it could be hidden from view. Treblinka became the
final destination for transports that brought Jews from the
ghettos of the General Government and about ten European
countries to their death. The Jews were brought to Treblinka
under the pretext of resettlement in former Soviet territories
that had been occupied. The actual site of mass slaughter was
located approximately 2.5 miles (4 km.) from the station, cam-
ouflaged inside a pine forest. On the border of this area was
a platform for the train that carried the Jews from the station
in consignments of 15-20 cars, which reached the camp on a
side track especially built for this purpose.

However, the name Treblinka refers to two camps: the
first one (later called Treblinka 1), which began operating in
1941, was openly and officially designated as a forced-labor
camp for offenses against the occupation authorities; the sec-
ond camp, located approximately 1 mile (1.5 km.) from the
first, and designed for mass extermination, was treated by the
German authorities as a state secret, and its name was coded
even in confidential letters as t.ii.

Treblinka 1: For Jews and Poles (December 1941- July 1944)

Unlike Treblinka 11, this camp was intended not only for Jews,
but also for Poles deported for economic or political offenses.
The Poles would remain in the camp for the duration of their
punishment, and only part of those charged with political
crimes were killed or transferred to concentration camps.
Jews were transferred there after roundups or from forced-
labor contingents required from the Judenrate, and only in
a very few cases would they leave the place alive. Devastated
by hunger, overwork in the nearby gravel pit, brutal beatings,
and cruel harassment, they died in large numbers. Others
perished in occasional executions or were transferred to Tre-
blinka 11 to be murdered after they lost all their strength. The
last execution at Treblinka 1 took place on July 24, 1944, just
prior to the entrance of the Soviet army.

According to the statistical estimates of Judge Z. Lukasz-
kiewicz, who conducted an investigation of both camps in
1945 on behalf of the Main State Commission for the Investi-
gation of Nazi Crimes in Poland, approximately 10,000 indi-
viduals had passed through Treblinka 1, 70% of whom were

either shot or murdered in other ways. In light of the practices
for mixed camps, according to which the Aryans benefited
from larger food rations and were allowed to receive provi-
sions from their families, it can be assumed that at least 90%
of those who perished were Jews. After the war more than 40
mass graves were dug up in the nearby forest and as many as
6,500 bodies were counted. Deeper in the forest were more
graves that were not dug up.

The commanding officer of Treblinka 1 was ss Hauptstur-
mfuehrer von Eupen. His favorite sport was horseback riding,
which gave him the opportunity to trample and kill prisoners.
The statements of surviving witnesses from Treblinka 1 in-
clude a particularly gruesome description of how 30 children
brought there during the * Warsaw ghetto uprising were killed
with an ax by a Ukrainian from the auxiliary service under the
supervision of Hans Heinbuch, an ss man, who was a univer-
sity graduate and worked as a teacher after the war.

Treblinka 11: The Culmination of "Efficiency" in the
Extermination of Jews (July 23, 1942-Oct. 14, 1943)

After the beginning of mass slaughter in the *Belzec and *So-
bibor camps in March and May 1942, Treblinka 11 became the
third and, in terms of capacity, the largest camp for the death
camps of Jews in the General Government. It measured 1,312
feet by 1,968 feet, trees camouflaged the camp, and watch-
towers were placed along the fence. The camp was divided
into three sections: the reception area, the killing area, and
the living area. The living area was used by camp personnel,
Germans and Ukrainians. It had storerooms and workshops.
There were also barracks for Jews. Construction on the killing
center began in May and was completed on July 22. A day later
massive deportations began arriving from Warsaw.

The stationary gas chambers installed in the above-men-
tioned camps used a uniform organizational and technical sys-
tem based on a common operational center located in Lublin.
The creator and head of this center, the ss and Polizeifuehrer
of the district, Odilo *Globocnik, was appointed by *Himmler
as a high official in charge of the "Final Solution" of the Jew-
ish question on a European scale. He acted in close collabo-
ration with Reichsamtsleiter Victor Brack, the former chief of
the euthanasia program in Germany.

Mobile gas chambers constructed on the model of the
lethal sanitary vans tested in Germany were put into opera-
tion in the parts of Poland annexed by the Reich (Wartheland)
and in some former Soviet territories. The main obstacle to
the mass application of these vans was their limited capacity,
their frequent breakdowns and the disposal of bodies; in short,
they lacked efficiency. Mass shooting of the Jewish inhabitants
in the U.S.S.R. by the Einsatzgruppen was no less problematic
from the Nazi point of view. These massacres caused misgiv-
ings in commanding military circles; they caused too much
noise and were carried out in broad daylight, and also left too
many wounded or unhurt witnesses who could flee the graves.
To employ this method on territories near European centers
and even to Germany itself was out of the question.

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TREBLINKA

The death camp reversed the process: instead of sending
mobile killers to stationary victims, the victims were made
mobile - by being placed on a train - and were sent to sta-
tionary execution centers, death camps that operated on an
assembly line basis. Arriving prisoners had their values con-
fiscated, they were stripped naked, hair was shaven, and then
they were murdered in gas chambers, gold was removed from
their teeth, and their bodies were burned in crematoria or
open pits. The solution was achieved by the division of labor
and the coordination of individual sections. The functions of
rounding up the victims at their places of residence and their
extermination at the place of execution were separated. One
of the Einsatzgruppen (the notorious Einsatz Reinhardt) was to
continue to act, but in the framework of Globocniks camps its
activities were connected mainly with deportation. As a result,
the transports directed to the camps had fixed quotas. After a
fixed number of "heads" and transports had been dispatched
from a given place, the Einsatz team was free to perform its
Aktion in another place. This ensured the death factories a
regular and plentiful supply of human material.

The services of the railway network of the Reich and the
occupied countries comprised a link in this chain. Transport
was a difficult matter at a time when all the railways were
swamped with military personnel and supplies. In addition,
the trains for transporting Jews from Western and Central
Europe had to be ordinary long-distance passenger trains in
order to prevent the suspicions of the victims and soothe the
conscience of some satellite circles. Jews from the Polish ghet-
tos were being "resettled" without such ceremonies. Freight
trains and cattle cars escorted by murderers were filled beyond
capacity with people designated for death. They were cold in
winter, hot in the summer and a bucket was used for sanita-
tion. Jews had to sit in their own excrement prior to arrival.
For hours, and sometimes days, these trains would stand on
the side tracks allowing other transports to pass, and thus a
large proportion of the deportees (mainly babies, the aged,
and the sick), lacking water, air, and sanitary arrangements,
frequently died before reaching their destination.

Those who arrived alive were awaited by the third link
in the chain - a team of executioners. It was their duty to get
the largest possible number of victims through the respective
stages of the procedure at lightning speed: to strip them of the
last remnants of their possessions including their hair, gold
teeth and dentures; to supervise the removal of the corpses;
and to sort out the remaining belongings for shipment to
Germany.

The large area of Treblinka (32 acres; 13 hectares) was di-
vided into two sectors. In the first, the larger one, the victims
were received and classified and their remaining possessions
were sorted out and dispatched. In the second were two build-
ings containing gas chambers and a field of mass graves dug
up by mechanical excavators. Three gas chambers (measur-
ing 25 sq. m. each) were located in the building erected earlier,
and ten more chambers, twice as large, were in the building
erected at a later date. The staff of both sectors consisted of

about 30 ss men, 120 so-called Ukrainians (that is, members of
the auxiliary services), and about 1,000-1,500 Jewish prison-
ers who were recruited for the work from among the younger
men and, after having been brought to a state of emaciation,
were often replaced by men from new transports.

Both buildings had annexes outside. Inside were passages
containing narrow, hermetically shut doors to the gas cham-
bers fitted out with small peepholes. On the opposite wall of
each chamber there was a hermetically adherent trapdoor that
could be opened from the outside. The walls of the chambers
were set with tiles and on the ceiling there were openings fitted
out with shower heads, to give the obviously false impression
that the chambers were showers. The openings in the ceilings
were connected to pipes leading to diesel engines located in
the annexes. After the engines were started, fumes containing
carbon monoxide (COi) emanated from the pipes and con-
sumed all the oxygen in the hermetically closed room, caus-
ing the suffocation of the people crowded inside. Death in the
chambers was calculated to occur within 15-20 minutes, how-
ever it sometimes lasted much longer, especially in the larger
chambers of the building constructed later on and also when
the engines were out of order.

In Treblinka there were also camouflage buildings such
as "Lazarette" and "train change stations" intended to prevent
any self-defending from the victims. The entire procedure was
set in motion the moment the vans arrived at the loading plat-
form. After the doors of the vans were pulled aside, a horde
of Germans and Ukrainians rushed at the victims, shouting,
and beating them. They would throw the victims out of the
vans, wounding and injuring them straightaway and causing
the miserable people unbelievable shock. Shortly thereafter
the Hoellenspektakel ("inferno show") would begin. Men and
women were separated and families were broken up without
being allowed the opportunity for farewells. Men were or-
dered to undress at the square. While their heads and faces
were being whipped, they had to snatch armfuls of clothing
and bring them to a large pile to be sorted. A prisoner from
the Jewish staff dealt bits of string to men to tie their shoes
into pairs. In a nearby barrack another Jewish prisoner would
distribute bits of string to women for the same purpose. From
the "changing room," women would go over to the "hairdress-
ers," where their hair would be cut off. It would then be used
in some industries of the Third Reich.

No pain and no humiliation were spared to those sen-
tenced to death.

Jews arrived on transports from Theresienstadt, Greece,
and Slovakia as well as Poland. Jews from Bulgarian -occupied
zones of Thrace and Macedonia were sent to Treblinka - but
no Jews from Bulgaria itself. There were also Jews from Aus-
tria, Belgium, France, Germany, and the occupied Soviet
Union. Some 2,000 Roma and Sinti (gypsies) were also de-
ported to Treblinka.

The victims would be stood in a row - ready for the
"chase" - naked and barefoot, even in the worst winter days.
Before them stretched a 150-yard path connecting both sectors

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ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TREBLINKA

of the camp, called by the Germans Schlauch (tube) or, more
"wittily," Himmelstrasse ("Way to Heaven"). The condemned
ran between the rows of torturers, who shouted, battered
them with their whips, pricked them with bayonets. Among
the shouts, the barking of an enormous hound (the famed
dog Bari who belonged to the principal sadist of the camp,
nicknamed "Doll") would be heard. Excited by the cries, the
hound would tear chunks of flesh from the victims' bodies.
The victims screamed as well, and cursed; some of them call-
ing Shema Yisrael or "down with Hitler." All inhibitions aban-
doned, even the men howled with pain; children cried, women
were frantic with fear. This route to the gas chambers also had
its name, Himmelfahrt ("Ascension"), in the camp slang.

Perhaps Bracks experts instructed the executioners that
if victims arrived at the chambers out of breath, the effect of
the gas would be hastened and the time of agony shortened.
The condemned were probably oblivious of this aspect, but
they would already be hurriedly running and pushing in or-
der to get to their only refuge left in the world after what had
happened to them.

After it was ascertained, by looking through the peep-
holes, that all movement had ceased, the trapdoor was lifted
from the outside and a sight unparalleled in its ghastly night -
marishness would be revealed. The corpses "stood" pressed
one against the other ("like basalt pillars") and appeared to be
staring with the horror of suffocation. The first corpses had to
be pulled out with hoops, and after that they fell out in heaps
on the concrete platforms. They were pale and damp and
bathed in perspiration and the secretions of the last defecation.
The buttocks and faces were blue, mouths open, teeth bared,
and bloody effusions oozed out from the mouths and noses.

In the corridors, the staff began cleaning and washing
the chambers for the next shift, sprinkling the Himmelstrasse
with fresh sand, while on the side of the graves, men began
the run with the corpses, under a storm of blows and threat of
pistols, toward the enormous graves. The gravediggers placed
corpses in the gigantic cavities head to feet, and feet to head,
in order to put in the maximum number. On the way to the
graves stood a squad of "dentists" whose duty it was to pull out
gold teeth and dentures from the mouths of the corpses. An-
other group of specialists was to check quickly whether there
were any diamonds hidden in the corpses rectums or in the
women's vaginas. From time to time single shots were fired
by the guards to increase the zeal of the gravediggers stand-
ing in the grave full of blood, pus, and dreadful stench. Who-
ever was beaten up, had a trace of blood, or a bruise left on
his face, was finished off with a bullet after the roll call. And
there was also musical accompaniment to the shows of Tre-
blinka; at first klezmerim from the surrounding villages and
later an excellent chamber orchestra played under the direc-
tion of Artur Gold known for his jazz ensemble from Warsaw.
In addition there was a choir which every evening sang the
idyllic song Gute Nacht, Gute Nacht, schlaftgut bis der Morgen
erwacht and a marching song composed by one of the prison-
ers. None of those musicians survived Treblinka. During roll

call and on their way to work prisoners were forced to sing
the Anthem of Treblinka written by Artur Gold at the insis-
tence of Kurt Franz.

We look straight out at the world,

The columns are marching off to their work.

All we have left is Treblinka,

It is our destiny.

We heed the commandants voice,

Obeying his every nod and sign.

We march along altogether,

To do what duty demands.

Work, obedience and duty

Must be our existence.

Until we too, will catch a glimpse at last

Of a modest bit of luck.

Yechiel Reichman, one of the very few to survive the camp,
described the lives of those who worked there:

We tried to encourage and calm each other. "Leibel," I said to
him. "Yesterday at this time my little sister was still alive." And
he answered: "And my whole family, my relatives, and 12,000
poor Jews from our city." And we were alive, spectators to this
great calamity and we became like stone, so that we could eat
and carry with us this great pain.

Acts of Resistance

The greatest number of transports occurred in the late sum-
mer and autumn of 1942; in the summer of 1942 beginning
on July 23 and continuing through September 12, at least
265,000 Jews were transported from the Warsaw Ghetto alone.
During the winter the frequency and number of transports
abated. After the German defeat at Stalingrad and foreseeing
the need to retreat from the Eastern front, the Nazi authori-
ties decided to cremate the corpses in order to eliminate the
traces of their crimes.

A special corps of Jewish prisoners, coded by the num-
ber 1005, was set up on the grounds where the mass graves
were placed. After Himmler's visit to Treblinka in February
1943, the monstrous action of pulling the corpses out of the
mass graves and burning them on iron grates began. In most
of the 1005 squads, the commandants of this difficult task
were forced to stop killing the already trained prisoners and
their replacement by new ones. This, however, did not lessen
the prisoners' belief that they would also be shot and burned
the moment their task was finished. That is when plans for re-
bellion and escape were born and ripened in almost all such
groups in the second half of 1943 and in the first half of 1944.
Sometimes these plans even partially succeeded, despite losses.
The same happened in Treblinka.

Isolated escapes from the camp began as early as the first
weeks of its existence. The runaways would escape under the
piles of clothing taken from the dead, that is, in the dispatch
vans that had been cleared of the victims. There were also acts
of resistance, although only a few have been reported because
of the limited number of witnesses who survived to tell the
story. On Aug. 26, 1942, a young man from the Kielce trans-
port armed with a penknife threw himself at a Ukrainian who

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

127

TREBLINKA

had prevented him from bidding farewell to his mother. As a
punishment, all the men who had arrived on the same trans-
port were shot. On Sept. 10, 1942, while the selection was be-
ing carried out, Meir Berliner, a citizen of Argentina who was
caught by the occupation while visiting his parents in Warsaw,
lethally wounded an ss man, Max Biel, with a knife.

Among the better known cases was the resistance of
a group of men from Grodno who had refused to undress.
They had thrown themselves in unison at the guard but only
achieved being shot by automatic fire instead of being gassed
in the chambers. Statements by a number of witnesses claim
that the news of the armed resistance in January and of the
April uprising in Warsaw reached the prisoners and influ-
enced the activities of the conspirators. Their aim now was
not only to escape and save their lives, but also to take revenge
on the murderers.

Such a group had come into existence in Treblinka 11
toward the end of 1942. Members of the committee were the
physician, Dr. Julian Chorazycki; the head of the Jewish squad,
engineer Galewski; Shmuel Rajzman (d. 1979); Kurland; a for-
mer captain of the Czech army, Zielo Bloch; and others. They
began to make efforts to obtain arms, which they had hoped to
smuggle in from the outside with the help of bribed Ukrainian
guards. However, they paid for these activities with the loss
of Chorazycki, who managed to commit suicide when caught
with a packet of bank notes. After various failures the conspir-
ators succeeded, with the help of a copied key, in obtaining
arms from the camp arsenal and hiding them in a workshop.
Contact was established with the second sector in Treblinka 11,
where the conspirators had only shovels and spades. They set a
date and a signal: a shot and the explosion of a hand grenade.
The revolt was to begin on August 2 at 4:30.

At the beginning everything went well. On the appointed
day, benzine had been substituted for a solution of lysol during
the disinfecting of the wooden buildings. Each active member
had a task assigned to him and waited for the signal. At 3:40
a shot suddenly resounded in the first sector, followed soon
by the explosion of a hand grenade. Only those in the front
barrack knew what had happened. Two young boys there had
unearthed some hidden money from a hiding place and a
Kapo had caught them. Soon the commanders at their obser-
vation points caught sight of Germans leading the youngsters
at gunpoint for interrogation to the guardhouse. They realized
that they had to begin immediately. The first shot heard in the
camp killed the Kapo.

Immediately thereafter one of the leaders dashed through
the square with a hand grenade that he was supposed to hurl
at the ss men's canteen. He realized that there would not be
enough time, and, in order not to confuse the signal, he threw
it before he reached his target. The prematurity of the out-
break of the revolt had disastrous consequences. They had not
managed to remove the Ukrainian staff guarding the machine
guns on the turrets (the conspirators had planned to lure them
away with gold); nor had the telephone connections with the
outside world been cut.

The leaders of the revolt did not lose their heads. All the
barracks were set on fire immediately. They managed to kill
one of the main hangmen, Kuetner, cut through the barbed-
wire entanglements, and open the way to escape. They tried to
kill the Ukrainians operating the machine guns on the guard
turret, but did not succeed. Although a few gunners were
killed and some wounded, it was impossible for the rebels,
with only a few hand grenades and pistols, to lead a systematic
struggle under the torrent of machine gun fire from above. Al-
most all those in command fell. They tried to cover the escape
of those who rushed at the wires, but could do little more than
die with honor. Apart from the heavily armed Germans and
the Ukrainians of the staff, "relief" troops had arrived from
Treblinka 1. The whole district was alerted by telephone.

Most of the rebels fell while forcing their way through
the barbed-wire entanglements. Most of those who escaped
(between 300 and 500) from the range of fire were caught in
the first weeks of the manhunt and killed or betrayed by the
local peasants, who were on the lookout for the riches carried
out of Treblinka. There were, however, Poles who gave shelter
to the fugitives, either in their houses or in haystacks, dressed
the wounded, fed them, and helped them to survive. How-
ever, almost a year was to pass before the area was liberated
and there were casualties day after day and week after week.
Only a total of about 50 survivors, including those who had
escaped from Treblinka at an earlier time, could be counted
after the liberation. And yet the rebellion and the escape from
Treblinka were a great phenomenon in those times: as an act
of resistance and revenge and as a bridge to the future strug-
gles of the Jewish nation.

The Aftermath

As a result of interviews and investigations conducted after
the liberation, it appeared that although the wooden barracks
were burned down, Aug. 2, 1943 was not the last day of activi-
ties in Treblinka 11. Most of the German and Ukrainian staff
remained alive. They completed the burning of the corpses
and dealt with some transports, in the main from the General
Government, up to September. In October 1943 all buildings
were blown up and the entire area was plowed and sown with
fodder, in order to obliterate all traces of the crime. According
to the data collected by the Polish authorities, apart from Jews
from the General Government and Reichskommissariat Ost
(Bialystok and Grodno), Jews from several Central and West
European countries (Germany, Austria, Bohemia-Moravia,
Slovakia, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg) and from Balkan
countries (Greece, Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria) were murdered
there. Coins and identity cards of the citizens of more than 30
countries were found among other exhibits unearthed in the
camp grounds. In addition to Jews, a certain number of Poles
and gypsies were also murdered there. According to the cal-
culations of Judge Z. Lukaszkiewicz, the number of victims
murdered in Treblinka amounted to at least 731,600. The ba-
sis of this calculation was the railway documentation and an
estimation of the average number of vans and people. This

128

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TREITSCHKE, HEINRICH VON

number, which was published in 1946, must be enlarged and
rounded out to about 750,000 on the basis of German docu-
ments discovered later on by Jewish researchers.

After the liberation of Poland, a Central Jewish Histori-
cal Committee came into existence almost simultaneously
with the Main State Commission for the Investigation of Nazi
Crimes. It established itself in Lodz and later transferred to
Warsaw as the Jewish Historical Institute. The committee
pursued the contacts established with a group of 35 survivors
of Treblinka. In November 1945 representatives of the Pol-
ish Main Commission and of the Central Jewish Historical
Committee visited the scene of the crimes; they were assisted
by five former prisoners and accompanied by a unit of mi-
litia men and representatives of the local Polish authorities.
The most explicit evidence of the monstrous crimes that had
taken place there were the human skulls and bones scattered
all over; they had been unearthed when the local inhabitants
and scavengers of a nearby station of the Soviet army, out for
gold teeth and other treasures of the murdered Jews, tore up
the grounds.

The document that remained after this visit was a memo-
randum of the Jewish participants to the Central Committee of
Jews in Poland appealing for action to prevent further profana-
tion of the place of martyrdom and disaster of close to three-
quarters of a million Jews. This appeal remained unanswered,
and only in 1961 was the building of a monument begun on
behalf of the Jewish division for the preservation of places of
commemoration in Poland, presided over by S. Fischgrund.
A pamphlet was published in several languages urging Jews
from all over the world to contribute toward this goal.

In 1963 a delegation from Israel arrived in Poland for the
commemoration of the 20 th anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto
uprising. It also went on a pilgrimage to Treblinka, where a
monument and a mausoleum in the form of a symbolic rail-
way and cemetery, designed by A. Haupt and F. Duszenko,
had in the meantime been erected. The delegation returned
to Israel with a case of remains, and a profoundly moving fu-
neral was held at the Nahalat Yizhak cemetery near Tel Aviv.
Since then, the former prisoners of Treblinka have held an an-
nual memorial service there.

In kibbutz *Lohamei ha-Gettabt, a model of Treblinka
planned and executed by the senior of the former prisoners
of Treblinka 11 was erected. The number of former prisoners
of Treblinka in Israel amounted to 20 and they remained in
contact with the surviving fellow prisoners scattered all over
the world.

Three trials directly concerning the crimes at Treblinka
were conducted in Germany. The first was of Joseph (Sepp)
Hirtreiter (Frankfurt, 1951) who was sentenced for life. The
second was often defendants from Treblinka 11 (Dusseldorf,
1965), in which the chief defendant from this camp, Kurt Franz
(called "Doll") was sentenced to life imprisonment, while his
companions received various sentences up to a maximum of
12 years, one of them being acquitted. The third was of Franz
Stangl, the commandant of Treblinka, who was arrested in

Brazil and delivered to the German authorities. After a six-
month trial he was sentenced to life imprisonment in Janu-
ary 1971. Under extradition agreement this punishment was
reduced to 20 years, but in June of the same year he died in
prison.

bibliography: G. Reitlinger, Final Solution (1968 2 ) index; R.
Hilberg, Destruction of the European Jews (1961, 1984, 2003), index;
Y. Virnick, A Year in Treblinka (1945); German Crimes in Poland, 1
(1946), 95-106; V. Grossman, Ha-Gehinnom bi-Treblinkah (1945); R.
Auerbach, Oyfdi Felderfun Treblinka (1947); A. Krzepicki, in: Bleter
far Geshikhte, 9 no. 1-2 (1956), 71-141; Israel, Attorney General against
A. Eichmann, Eduyyot, 2 (1963), 1084-113; Rajzman, in: Y. Suhl (ed.),
They Fought Back (1967), 128-35; See also the indictments of the Tre-
blinka trials 12:870 10 904/19, and the decision of the court 3.9. 1965
A. 2 81 ks. add. bibliography: Y. Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka:
The Operation Reinhard Death Camps (1987); W. Chrostowski, Exter-
mination Camp Treblinka (2004); G. Sereny, Into that Darkness: An
Examination of Conscience (1983).

[Rachel Auerbach / Michael Berenbaum (2 nd ed.)]

TREFOUSSE, HANS LOUIS (1921- ), U.S. historian. Born
in Frankfurt, Germany, Trefousse became professor of history
at Brooklyn College, New York. After he retired from teach-
ing, he was named professor emeritus of history. He published
books on American diplomacy and on the role of Republicans
in the American Civil War and Reconstruction. His biogra-
phies Ben Butler, the South Called Him Beast (1957) and Benja-
min Franklin Wade, Radical Republican from Ohio (1963) were
significant preludes to his Radical Republicans (1969).

Some of his other published works include Germany and
American Neutrality, 1939-41 (1951), Reconstruction (1971),
Lincoln's Decision for Emancipation (1975), Andrew Johnson:
A Biography (1989), Pearl Harbor: The Continuing Controversy
(1982), Carl Schurz:A Biography (1998), Thaddeus Stevens: 19 th -
Century Egalitarian (2001), and Rutherford B. Hayes (2002).

°TREITSCHKE, HEINRICH VON (1834-1896), German
historian and politician. Treitschke was a member of the Na-
tional Liberal Party and author of a popular German history
of the 19 th century (Deutsche Geschichte im 19. Jahrhundert,
5 vols., 1879-94). He became well known as a staunch advo-
cate of German nationalism increasingly critical of liberalism.
The Berlin historian was very vocal in various campaigns for
a cultural unification and homogenization of the young Ger-
man nation-state. In this context, he published an anti-liberal
article in 1879 entitled "Unsere Aussichten" in the Preussische
Jahrbuecher in which he justified the antisemitic movement
which had emerged in Germany since 1873. Behind this, Treit-
schke saw "a brutal but natural reaction of German national
feeling against a foreign element," and he praised the "instinct
of the masses, which has perceived a grave danger," that of Jew-
ish domination of Germany. He launched the famous slogan:
"The Jews are our misfortune!"

As a result, the antisemitic agitation, which until then
had been considered vulgar, especially in intellectual circles,
now received the approval of one of the most illustrious think-

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

129

TREMELLIUS, JOHN IMMANUEL

ers in Germany at the time and acquired a warrant of respect-
ability. Over the course of the following year, controversies
about his attacks broke out among the educated bourgeoisie;
participants included the historian Heinrich *Graetz, who had
been personally attacked in Treitschke's article, and the histo-
rian of Rome, Theodor *Mommsen, who accused Treitschke of
disturbing the public peace in Germany Treitschke was not a
"racist" in the radical sense of the word. He limited himself to
demanding the rapid and complete assimilation of the Jews in
the Germanic culture, yet he became more and more skepti-
cal about the likelihood of accomplishing this objective. In the
years after 1879 his political and historical writings, therefore,
remained persistently antisemitic.

bibliography: A. Dorpalen, Heinrich Von Treitschke (Eng.,
1957); H. Liebeschutz, Das Judentum im deutschen Geschichtsbild
(1967). add. bibliography: U. Langer, Heinrich von Treitschke...
(i998);K..K.riegej: (ed.) y Der"Berliner Antisemitismusstreit" 1879-1881...
(2003); U. Jensen, Gebildete Doppelganger... (2005), 197-324.

[Leon Poliakov / Uffa Jensen (2 nd ed.)]

TREMELLIUS, JOHN IMMANUEL (1510-1580), Italian He-
braist and apostate Jew. Born in Ferrara and educated at the
University of Padua, Tremellius became a Catholic in about
1540, his godfather being Cardinal Reginald Pole, archbishop
of Canterbury. A year later, he abandoned Catholicism for
Protestantism, and in 1542 was appointed professor of He-
brew at the University of Strasbourg. The European wars
of religion drove Tremellius to England, where Archbishop
Thomas Cranmer, a leading Protestant, gave him lodgings
for a time in Lambeth Palace. Following the death of Paulus
*Fagius, Tremellius served as king's reader in Hebrew at the
University of Cambridge, where he remained from 1549 until
the Catholic reaction under Queen Mary (1553), when he left
for Germany. He was professor of Old Testament at the Uni-
versity of Heidelberg between 1561 and 1576, but paid a second
visit to England in 1565. As a Calvinist, he incurred Lutheran
displeasure at Heidelberg and was expelled in 1576, conclud-
ing his teaching career at Sedan.

Tremellius' main work was his Latin translation of the
Bible from Hebrew and Syriac (Old Testament with F. Junius,
Frankfurt on the Main, 1575-59; New Testament, Geneva,
1569), of which many editions were published. He also issued
an Aramaic and Syriac grammar (Geneva, 1569). His Latin
Bible had a profound impact on Hebrew studies in England
during the 17 th century.

bibliography: dnb, s.v.; W. Becker, Immanuel Tremel-
lius (Ger., 1890 2 ); H.P. Stokes, Studies in Anglo-Jewish History (1913),
207-9; F. Secret, Les Kabbalistes Chretiens de la Renaissance (1964),
201, 229; Baron, Social 2 , 13 (1969), 167, 396; Roth, England, 146 f.

[Godfrey Edmond Silverman]

TRENCIN (Slovak Trencin; Hung. Trencsen; Ger. Trents-
chin), town in western Slovakia.

In the 14 th century there were several Jews in Trencin.
In the 16 th century Jews reappeared. After the Kuruc invasion

of Ubersky Brod in 1683, some Jews took refuge in Trencin.
For the next 100 years, the community was under Ubersky
Brod's jurisdiction. In 1734 the Jews took a secret oath to use
only Ubersky Brod's court in disputes and to avoid the Hun-
garian court system.

The Trencin Jews tried to develop community life. They
established a hevra kaddisha and held services on the Sab-
bath and holidays in private homes. They also had a mikveh.
In 1736 there was a Jewish school, and in 1760 the commu-
nity hired its first rabbi, David Kahn Casid (d. 1783). The mu-
nicipal authorities were not well disposed toward the Jewish
community. It charged the Jews municipal and state taxes and
prohibited several religious rituals, such as marriage and cir-
cumcision. To perform these rituals, the Jews were charged
heavy taxes. They were forbidden to employ Christian ser-
vants. The authorities tried to curtail the expansion of the
community.

In 1703 Jews opened a factory that produced a scarce oil
for tanning hides. During the first quarter of the 18 th century,
Jews were engaged in trade in hides and bones, and in produc-
ing spirits. In 1787 a fire destroyed the community's archives.
In 1834 the congregation owned a small wooden synagogue.
During the first half of the 19 th century, the school system was
expanded. Most of the schools had been privately owned but
slowly became public and then government -owned. The ma-
jor government-run Jewish elementary school was established
in 1857. It had an excellent reputation, and many gentile chil-
dren were enrolled.

After the Congress of Hungarian Jewry in 1868, the
Trencin congregation joined the Reform (Neolog) stream
of Jewry. In 1911 a new synagogue was constructed, often
described as one of the most beautiful in Hungary. The con-
gregation had a hevra kaddisha, a cemetery, and a kosher
butcher. There were several social, women's, religious, and
charitable societies. During World War 1, 150 men enlisted
in the army.

From 1785 the community underwent rapid expansion.
In that year there were 388 Jews in Trencin. In 1848 there
were 688, while 50 years later the community numbered
1,113. An increase was seen in 1922 when the community
reached its peak of 2,115. I n !93° the number decreased to

i>539-

At the end of World War 1, mobs looted Jewish prop-
erty and homes and injured and even murdered Jews. When
the disturbances subsided, the Jewish community recovered
and contributed significantly to economic life. Several local
factories were owned by Jewish entrepreneurs. Outstanding
among them was one that produced natural oil. It supported
local agriculture and provided employment. Jews were well
represented in the educated strata and comprised much of
Trencin's intelligentsia. There was active political and social life
in the community. In 1932 five Jews were elected to the munici-
pal council, four of them from the Jewish party. A number of
Zionist groups influenced the community. The congregation
belonged to the Slovakia-wide Jeshurun association, which

130

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TRENTON

unified the Neolog and Status Quo congregations. There was
also a small Orthodox group.

On the eve of the deportations in 1942, there were 2,500
Jews in Trencin and environs; in Trencin itself there were 1,619.
Most of them perished in the extermination camps in Poland.
In 1947 there were 228 Jews in Trencin. In the small synagogue,
the names of the victims were inscribed on the walls. Most of
the survivors emigrated or settled in other parts of Czecho-
slovakia. The rest attempted to preserve Jewish life.

In 1968, during the Prague Spring, another wave of em-
igration took place. In 1978 a memorial was unveiled in the
cemetery for Jewish anti- Fascist fighters and victims of the
Holocaust. The Reform synagogue served as the city's cul-
tural center.

bibliography: M. Lanyi and H. Propper, A szlovenszkoi
zsido hitkozsegek tortenete (1933); R. litis (ed.), Die aussaeen un-
ter Traenen mit Jubel werden sie ernten (1959), 195-8; Magyar Zsido
Lexikon (1929), 913; E. Barkany-L. Dojc, Zidovske ndbozenske obce na
Slovensku (1991), 221-24.

[Yeshayahu Jelinek (2 nd ed.)]

TRENT, city in northern Italy. The presence of some Jews in
Trent, most of them emigrants from Germany, is mentioned
from the first half of the 14 th century. The usury regulations
of the Jews of Trent served as a model elsewhere in the Tyrol.
In the 15 th century Jews in Trent possessed a synagogue, a
house for study, and three other houses. The Jewish physi-
cian Tobiah practiced among the Christian as well as the Jew-
ish population. In 1475, the fanatical Franciscan, Bernardino
da * Feltre, preached there against the Jews in his Lenten ser-
mons, and foretold that their sins would soon be manifested
to all.

A few days after this, on Maundy Thursday, a Christian
infant named Simon disappeared. Shortly afterward his body
was discovered near the house of the head of the Jewish com-
munity, and the whole community, men, women, and chil-
dren were arrested. After 17 of them had been tortured for
15 consecutive days they "confessed" to the crimes of which
they had been accused. One of the tortured died in prison,
six were burnt at the stake, and two (who had converted to
Christianity) were strangled. At this stage Pope *Sixtus iv in-
tervened in the affair and the judicial proceedings were tem-
porarily halted. A papal commissary was sent to Trent to in-
vestigate the circumstances of the incident, but was forced to
leave when the results of his inquiries led him to contradict
the findings of the local "trial." Proceedings were reopened in
Trent in face of violent opposition from the commissary, and
at the end of the year five more Jews were executed (two of
them were converted to Christianity before their deaths). A
papal court of inquiry in 1476 justified the libel, and in 1478,
as a result of its proceedings, Sixtus published the *Bull Facit
nos pietas endorsing the "legality" of the trial. In the mean-
time four Jewish women of Trent had accepted the Christian
faith and the property of the murdered Jews had been confis-
cated. Jews were henceforth excluded from Trent, and in the

18 th century were still not allowed to pass through the town
(see H.J.D. Azulai, Magal Tov, 10-11).

Simon was beatified. The libel had widespread reper-
cussions and served for intense antisemitic propaganda both
inside and outside Italy. According to legend, the rabbis of
Italy imposed a ban on Jewish settlement in Trent after 1475:
this was formally raised when Simon was de-beatified in
1965.

bibliography: J.E. Scherer, Die Rechtsverhaeltnisse derjuden

in den deutsch-oesterreichischen Laendern (1901), 579-611; G. Divina,

Storia del Beato-Simone da Trento, 2 vols. (1902); G. Menestrina, Gli

ebrei a Trento (1903); V. Manzini, La superstizione omicida e i sacri-

fici umani con particolare riguardo alle accuse contro gli ebrei (1930),

106, 218; M. Shulvass, Bi-Zevat ha-Dorot (i960), 67-75; W.P. Eckert,

in: P. Wilpert (ed.),Judentum im Mittelalter (1966), 283-336; Milano,

Biblioteca, index.

[Shlomo Simonsohn]

TRENTON, capital of the state of New Jersey, U.S., situated
between Philadelphia and New York City. Greater Trenton
has a population of about 341,000 (2003); the Jewish popula-
tion of Greater Trenton numbered about 10,000 in 1970, but
by the mid-1990s, the Jewish population numbered approxi-
mately 6,000 as Jews from the city migrated to surrounding
suburban areas. Greater Trenton in 2005 included most of
Mercer County and its Jewish population remained at some
6,000 in 2005.

Trenton was founded in 1679. The first Jew connected
with Trenton was Simon *Gratz, of Philadelphia, who bought
shares in the Trenton Banking Company when it was estab-
lished in 1805. In 1839, Daniel Levy Maduro *Peixotto, of New
York City, became editor, for a few months, of the Emporium
and True American, a daily and weekly newspaper. Judge
David *Naar, who bought the True American in 1853 and was
its editor until 1869, played a prominent role in the political
life of New Jersey as well as in local civic and educational af-
fairs. German Jews began to settle in the late 1840s. The first
prominent Jew was Simon Kahnweiler, a merchant and man-
ufacturer. The Mt. Sinai Cemetery Association was incorpo-
rated in 1857 and the Har Sinai Hebrew Congregation held its
first service in 1858 in rented quarters, and held its first formal
services in i860 when the congregation formalized its orga-
nization. In 1866 it bought a small Lutheran Church. Chevra
Bikkur Cholim, "for the mutual relief of the sick and the burial
of the dead," was incorporated in 1877.

The East European immigration, started in the late 1870s,
was composed mainly of Lithuanian, Polish, and Hungarian
Jews. They organized the synagogues Achenu Bnai Yisroel
(1883); Anshey Ernes (1891); Ahavath Israel (1909); and Poaley
Ernes (1920). Until 1903 Jewish education was conducted by
private teachers, after which the Brothers of Israel Synagogue
founded a Hebrew school. Later, in 1945, it became partly a
day school, under the leadership of Rabbi Issachar Levin, who
served the community from 1927 to 1969. In 1969 it became
a full-fledged day school, the Trenton Hebrew Academy. Re-
named in 1981 as the Abrams Hebrew Academy (named for

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TREPMAN, PAUL

a local foundation that made a significant endowment to the
school), it moved from Trenton, New Jersey, to Yardley, Penn-
sylvania. In 2006, the school had 30 faculty teaching 300 stu-
dents from nursery school through eighth grade in a secular/
religious day school curriculum.

An influx of Jews into Trenton after World War 1 resulted
in a proliferation of social, literary, and recreational societies
as well as political groups. Har Sinai joined the Reform move-
ment in 1922. Adath Israel was organized in 1923 as a Conser-
vative congregation. The Workmen's Circle began its activi-
ties in 1924. The ymha was organized in 1910, reorganized
in 1916, and acquired its first building in 1917 - the forerun-
ner of the Jewish Community Center (1962). Zionist societ-
ies started in the early 1900s. The Jewish Federation of Tren-
ton was organized in 1929. The Jewish Family Service (1937)
dates back to its predecessor the Hebrew Ladies Aid Society
(1900). The Home for the Aged Sons and Daughters of Israel,
now called the Greenwood House, was organized in 1939 and
had 132 beds in 2006. An assisted living center, Abrams Resi-
dence, was added in 2003 using money provided by a local
Jewish foundation called the Abrams Foundation. It was cre-
ated from the fortunes of the last surviving members of the
Abrams family, brothers Samuel and David and sister Susan.
The family's fortune came from diversified holdings financed
originally by a retail furniture operation; they began their di-
versification by purchasing single shares of General Motors
Corporation stock during the Great Depression. The Abrams
Foundation also helped finance the activities of the Abrams
Day Camp, a Jewish day camp operated by the Jewish Com-
munity Center since 1963. An eight- week program, it offers
activities for about 400 Jewish children each summer. In 1937
a Jewish census study showed that there were 7,191 Jews, or
about 6 percent of the population; 32 organizations including
6 synagogues; and that 59 percent of the Jewish population
was in trade, 13.3 percent in mechanical and manufacturing
enterprises, and 12.3 percent in professions. The 1949 and the
1961 census showed increases in the professions which in 1970
probably amounted to nearly 30 percent. In 1970 there were
40 organizations, including three Conservative congregations
as well as two Orthodox and one Reform. By the beginning
of the new millennium, the community within the city limits
had diminished to two congregations, one Conservative and
the second a Reform congregation.

It was the culmination of a general migration of Jewish
families out of the city and into surrounding suburban com-
munities in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In 2006, the last two
congregations within the city limits, Congregation Brothers
of Israel (200 families) and Har Sinai Temple (500 families),
were each in various stages of relocating. In 2006, Brothers of
Israel was in the process of purchasing land for a new syna-
gogue in Yardley, Pennsylvania, and Har Sinai was building a
new facility approximately 15 miles north of Trenton, in Pen-
nington, New Jersey. At that time, Har Sinai announced its
intention to remain vested in the city of Trenton by continu-
ing its charitable programs there.

The Jews have been well- integrated in the communal life
of the city, participating actively in the United Fund and other
charitable and educational institutions. Outstanding leaders in
the general and Jewish community include Judge Phillip For-
man, United States Circuit Court; Judge Sidney Goldmann,
presiding judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme
Court of New Jersey; Bernard Alexander; Leon Levy; come-
dian Jon Stewart; and Expressionist painter Max * Weber.

bibliography: Trenton Historical Society, History of Tren-
ton, 16/9-1929, 2 (1929); J.S. Merzbacher, Trenton's Foreign Colonies
(1908); Kohn, in: ajhsq, 53 (1964), 373-95; S. Robinson, Jewish Popu-
lation of Trenton, n.j. (1949).

[S. Joshua Kohn / David Weinstock (2 nd ed.)]

TREPMAN, PAUL (1916-1987), journalist, author, com-
munity leader. Born in Warsaw, Trepman was an only child.
His fathers family were followers of the Gur Rebbe, and one
of Trepman's earliest memories was going with his father to
meet the him. Trepman attended both traditional and mod-
ern cheders, as well as the Takhkemoni Yeshivah in Warsaw.
In his youth, he joined the Betar Zionist movement, and was
a strong supporter of Ze'ev *Jabotinksy an d his Revisionist
Zionism. He began to publish in Polish, and his works ap-
peared in a journal edited by Janusz * Korczak and in the Re-
visionist press. He also began university at the Stefan Batory
University in Vilna, but the war halted his studies.

During the war, Trepman had the opportunity to escape
east to Russia but refused to abandon his mother in Warsaw.
He returned to Warsaw to find his mother in the ghetto, weak
and stricken with typhus. He narrowly escaped his mothers
fate - deportation to Treblinka - and lived in the Warsaw
area with Aryan papers. His Jewish identity hidden, he was
arrested in June 1943 and accused of being a Soviet spy. He
was sent to *Majdanek and subsequently saw the inside of
various camps. He was in *Bergen-Belsen when it was liber-
ated by the British in April 1945, and only after liberation did
Trepman resume his Jewish identity. He was soon involved
in the cultural and political life of the Bergen-Belsen Dis-
placed Persons Camp. In July 1945 he was the founding co-
editor (with Rafael Olewsky and David Rosenthal) of Undzer
Shtimme, the first Jewish newspaper in the British Zone. In
December 1947 Undzer Shtimme was replaced with the more
substantial Vochnbalatt. Trepman was also an editor of Zamy
Feder's Anthology of Songs and Poems from the Ghettos and
Concentration Camps, and was co-editor, again with Olewsky
and Rosental, of an early photo album of the Holocaust, the
multilingual Undzer Churbn in Bild, (Our Destruction in Pic-
tures, Bergen-Belsen, 1946).

With the support of Hirsch *Wolofsky, the editor of
Montreal's Yiddish daily, Keneder Adler, Trepman and his wife
immigrated to Montreal in 1948. He was hired to teach at the
Jewish Peoples Schools, where he remained for 23 years. In
the summers he directed the Labor Zionist Camp Undzer -
Camp- Kinder velt. Between 1971 and 1981 he was the executive
director of the Jewish Public Library of Montreal. Trepman

132

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TREPPER, LEOPOLD

became a central figure in the Montreal survivor commu-
nity. In 1961 he established the Montreal chapter of Bergen-
Belsen survivors, and served as its president for a number
of years.

In Montreal, Trepman was a frequent contributor to the
Adler, often writing under pen-names, including the tongue-
in-cheek pen-name Pinchas Batlan (Pinchas the Loafer). He
also wrote several books focusing on his life before the war and
his wartime experiences. These include A Gesl in Varshe (1949;
Among Men and Beasts, 1978), based on newspaper articles he
had written between 1946 and 1953; and his description of go-
ing back to visit Poland, A Traumatic Return to Poland (1980),
a translation of six articles he had written for the Keneder Adler
about a return trip he took to Poland in 1979.

bibliography: B. Widutchinsky Trepman and E. Trep-
man, Paul Trepman: Bikher, Pulikazyes, Arkhivn (1999); C.L. Fuks
(ed.), Hundert Yor Yidishe un Hebreyishe Literatur in Kanade (1982),

137-38.

[Richard Menkis (2 nd ed.)]

TREPPER, LEOPOLD (Leiba Domb; 1904-1982), former
Soviet intelligence agent, head of the anti- German spy net-
work known as "The Red Orchestra." Trepper was born in
Nowy Targ near Zakopane, Poland. He was active in the Pol-
ish Communist youth movement and was imprisoned for sev-
eral months. Afterwards he joined Ha-Shomer ha-Za'ir and in
1926 went to Erez Israel, where he soon became affiliated with
the illegal Communist party and was detained several times
by the police for his clandestine activities. In the Histadrut he
became known as the leader of the Ehud (Unity) faction which
advocated workers' unity, intending to include Communists
and Arabs. After the first conference of Ehud (1927), Trepper
was expelled from Erez Israel and went to France. There he
became active in the Jewish section of the French Communist
party as well as in the Soviet secret service. In 1932, in conse-
quence of the discovery of a Soviet spy network, referred to
in the French press as the "Fantomas" affair, Trepper had to
leave France and proceeded to the Soviet Union. In Moscow
he studied at the Communist University for Western Workers
(kunz) and was probably also trained for intelligence work. In
1938 he was sent to France and Belgium, where, under various
covers, he played a central role in Soviet military intelligence.
He organized and headed a widespread clandestine radio ser-
vice which had agents in high echelons of the German mili-
tary machine in Berlin. German counter-intelligence called
the network "The Red Orchestra."

In 1941 Trepper warned Moscow of Germany s imminent
attack on the U.S.S.R., predicting even its exact date, but Stalin
disregarded these warnings as originating in "British provo-
cation." During the German- Soviet war "The Red Orchestra,"
under Trepper s direction, contributed greatly, and sometimes
decisively, to Soviet strategy and tactics. In November 1942
Trepper was captured in Paris by a combined team of Ger-
man counter-intelligence and the Gestapo. They attempted
to enlist his services for a sophisticated anti-Soviet operation

in which he would continue his radio transmissions under
secret German control (the so-called Funkspiel). According
to previous orders from his superiors for such a contingency,
Trepper pretended to respond to these overtures, thus saving
his life and even succeeding in escaping less than a year later.
During his imprisonment, he managed to smuggle out a de-
tailed report, written in a mixture of Hebrew, Yiddish, and
Polish, which was transmitted to Moscow by underground
Communist party channels and which contained exact infor-
mation about his arrest as well as about the German control
already established over parts of "The Red Orchestra." After
his escape he resumed his intelligence activity.

In 1945 he was recalled to Moscow and on arrival im-
mediately arrested. He spent ten years in prison and was con-
stantly interrogated by the highest Soviet security officials. At
a certain stage, during Stalin's antisemitic Black Year, one of
the main charges leveled against him was the fact that in "The
Red Orchestra" he had "surrounded himself with Jews" (some
of them, like Hillel Katz, were old comrades from Erez Israel),
to which he replied that at that time Jewish Communists were
the most reliable people he could find. In 1955 he was released
and completely "rehabilitated." From then on Trepper de-
voted himself exclusively to Jewish interests. He submitted
to the post-Stalin leadership a detailed plan to revive Jewish
cultural life and institutions in the Soviet Union, but in 1956,
after the Twentieth Congress of the Soviet Communist party,
he was officially informed that his plan had been rejected. He
then went to Warsaw, where, under the name Leiba Domb,
he headed the government-sponsored Jewish Cultural- Social
Society (Yidisher Kultur-Gezelshaftlekher Farband) and its
publishing house Yiddish Bukh.

In 1968, during the violently anti- Jewish period in Polish
policy, Trepper decided to return to Israel, where members of
his family had already settled, but was constantly denied an
exit permit. This attitude of the Polish government, possibly a
result of Soviet pressure, aroused in 1971-72 worldwide pub-
licity and many protests, including hunger strikes by Trep-
per's sons in Jerusalem, in Canada, and at the United Nations
building in New York.

Toward the end of 1972 a French court heard a libel action
by Trepper against the former French secret agent Jean Rochet,
who had accused Trepper, in a letter to Le Monde, of having
collaborated with the Nazis and betrayed his comrades in the
underground. Despite Trepper's inability to appear because he
was not allowed to leave Poland, he won the case and Rochet
was fined and ordered to publish the court's verdict.

Trepper was finally granted permission by the Polish au-
thorities to leave Poland for England in order to undergo a
serious operation. He stated that his plans included the writ-
ing of "the full and true account of the 'Red Orchestra,'" not
merely as an intelligence network, but as an organization of
anti- Nazi resistance in which Jews played such a prominent
part. His memoirs, Le Grand Jeu, were published in 1975 and
in English translation by the author in 1977 as The Great Game:
The Story of the Red Orchestra.

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

133

TREST

Trepper settled in Israel in 1974. He died early in 1982 and
was buried in Jerusalem.

bibliography: D.J. Dallin, Soviet Espionage (1964 3 ), 139-40,
156-68, passim; G. Perrault, L'Orchestre Rouge (1967), passim.

[Joseph Berger-Barzilai]

TREST (Czech Trest; Ger. Triesch), town in Moravia, Czech
Republic. R. Jacob of Triesch is mentioned in a query ad-
dressed to Solomon b. Abraham *Adret. The community de-
veloped after the expulsion from nearby * Jihlava (1426) but
it may be assumed that it existed earlier. In 1678 Jews owned
fields and in 1693 they were permitted to distill spirits and to
fatten cattle. Trest Jews were connected with the textile in-
dustry as sellers of wool, and in 1723 a distillery, tannery, and
butchery were rented to a Jew. In 1789 there were 102 Jewish
families permitted by the *Familiants Laws; 20 others also
lived in the town. One hundred years later the community
numbered 316. Trest was the seat of an important yeshivah
and among its rabbis was Eleazar *Loew. In 1930 the commu-
nity numbered 64 (1.3% of the total population). It came to
an end in the Holocaust period, some immigrating to Eng-
land and Palestine and the rest deported to the death camps
of Poland via Theresienstadt. Its sacred objects are now in the
Jewish State Museum in Prague.

bibliography: H. Gold and B. Wachstein, in: H. Gold (ed.),
Juden und Judengemeinden Maehrens in Vergangenheit und Gegen-
wart (1929), 539-48; Germ Jud, 2 (1968) 833.

[Meir Lamed]

TRETS (Heb. f"ltp), town in the department of Bouches-
du-Rhone, S. France. Jewish sources indicate that a Jewish
community, which included some scholars, existed there at
least from 1269. The non- Jewish sources mention the protec-
tion given by the lords of Trets to local Jews in the 14 th and
15 th centuries, granting them equality with Christian inhabit-
ants. However, in 1413, the Jewish community was obliged to
request an order, which they obtained, placing them under
the protection of the lord and imposing a heavy fine of 50 sil-
ver marks "for any injury or offense to them." The commu-
nity continued to exist until the expulsion of the Jews from
Provence in 1501.

bibliography: Gross, Gal Jud, 2446°.; H. de Gerin-Ricard,

in: Repertoire des travaux de la Societe de statistique de Marseille, 48

(1911-20), 41-45; B. Blumenkranz, in: Bulletin philologique et histo-

rique (1965), 611.

[Bernhard Blumenkranz]

TREVES, a ramified family which produced scores of schol-
ars, rabbis, and communal workers. It is usually assumed that
the family's origins were in Troyes, France, *Rashi's birthplace,
from where it spread throughout Italy and Germany. Others
hold that it came from Treviso near Venice, Italy, in the 14 th
century, while a third opinion is that it originated in Trier
(Germany), called Treves in French. In France members of
the family were called Triverzans and in Germany, Drifzan.

Branches of the family spread through the different countries
of Europe from the 14 th to the 20 th centuries. From the original
family there afterward branched off the Trefouse, Dreyfuss,
and Tribas families, johanan, the founder of the family, lived
in Germany in the second half of the 13 th century. The first to
be called Treves was Joseph b. johanan (the Great), rabbi of
Paris or Marseilles in the first half of the 14 th century. His son
mattathias (c. 1325-died c. 1385) of Provence lived in Spain,
studied under his father, and was a pupil of Nissim b. Reuben
*Gerondi and Perez b. Isaac ha-Kohen. He returned to France
when the edict of expulsion was repealed in 1361. In Paris he
founded a yeshivah which had a large number of students. He
was given the title of honor Morenu, and in 1363 was appointed
rabbi of Paris by Charles v. Mattathias and the members of
his family were among those exempted from wearing the Jew-
ish badge decreed upon the Jews of France by Charles v. He
is mentioned in the responsa of * Isaac b. Sheshet Perfet (No.
271) and in the fragments of the Kiryat Sefer of Isaac *Lattes
published by Neubauer (Seder ha-Hakhamim ve-Korot ha-
Yamim, pt. 2 (1893), 241). Mattathias had three sons, Johanan
Treves, Abraham, and Joseph, the last apparently being
ordained rabbi in Italy, where he died in 1429. Joseph's great-
grandson naphtali hertz (Drifzan) was the author of the
kabbalistic commentary Dikduk Tefillah y on the prayer book
Malah ha-ArezDeah (Thuengen, 1560), and Naftulei Elohim y
a supercommentary on the commentary of *Bahya b. Asher
(Heddernheim, 1546). He was cantor in Frankfurt on the Main
and was renowned as "the great kabbalist." Naphtali Herz's son
Joseph together with his brother eliezer (1495-1566) pub-
lished their father's commentary on the prayer book. Eliezer
served as rabbi of Frankfurt for 22 years. A third son samuel
settled in Russia (see below). He wrote Yesod Shirim (Thuen-
gen, 1559) on the Book of Ruth, giving both literal and kabbal-
istic explanations. Many members of the Treves family settled
in Italy. The first known is Johanan b. Joseph ^Treves, author
of the commentary Kimha de-Avishuna (Bologna, 1540). His
son Raphael Joseph (16 th century) was rabbi in Ferrara,
engaged in the publication of books, and in 1559 worked as
a proofreader in the Hebrew press in Sabbioneta. Joseph b.
mattathias in Svigliano was involved in the notorious Tam-
ari-Venturozzo case (1566) in which the rabbis of Venice and
Mantua took part (see Moses b. Abraham *Pro venial).

From the 16 th century onward the Treves family is found
in Russia. The Russian branch of the family traces its de-
scent to Samuel, the son of Naphtali Herz of Frankfurt, who
crossed into Russia and adopted the family name of Zevi. He
had two sons, one of whom, eliezer, called Ashkenazi or
Ish Zevi, served as rabbi in Opatow, and wrote commentar-
ies on the Talmud, and glosses to tractate Hullin y which were
published under the title Dammesek Eliezer (Lublin, 1646).
He was also the author of a collection of prayers, Si ah ha-Sa-
deh (ibid.y 1645).

Still another branch of the Treves family is found in Tur-
key from the end of the 15 th century. From there a number of
them also went to Erez Israel. Of these the following may be

134

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TREVES, JOHANAN BEN MATTATHIAS

mentioned: Abraham b. solomon zarefati (1470-1552)
was born in Mantua, but in 1495 went to Salonika. In 1505 he
was appointed rabbi of Ferrara, and in 1522 went to Constan-
tinople. He subsequently lived for several years in Adriano-
ple with Joseph * Caro, where he became friendly with Solo-
mon *Molcho. Immediately after Molcho's death he moved
to Erez Israel, settling in Jerusalem. He was the author of the
Birkat Avraham (Venice, 1552), on the ritual washing of the
hands. His copy of the Halakhot of Isaac *Alfasi contained his
own glosses and those of his ancestors. Another member of
this branch was isaac b. mordecai gershon, one of the
scholars of Safed and a pupil of Moses *Alshekh. He became
rabbi in Constantinople (1583), but from there went to Venice.
He became renowned as a proofreader and publisher of the
works of the scholars of Safed. Raphael Treves was born
in Smyrna and from 1710 lived in Jerusalem, where he died
around 1745. His works are Zah ve-Adom (Constantinople,
1740), giving the order of prayers for those settling in Erez
Israel, and Dagul me-Revavah (ibid., 1743), a commentary on
the Song of Songs.

bibliography: Michael, Or, nos. 245, 426; Bruell, Jah-
rbuecher. . . , 1 (1874), 87-122; Gross, Gal Jud, 242, 532 f.; A. Epstein, in:
mgwj, 46 (1902), i59f.; Frumkin-Rivlin, 1 (1929), 91-93; 3 (1929), 84;
H. Chone, in: Sinai, 11 (1942), 183-213; D. Tamar, in: ks, 33 (1958), 377;
M. Benayahu, Rabbi Hayyim Yosef David Azulai (Heb., 1959), 344.

[Yehoshua Horowitz]

TREVES, EMILIO (1834-1916), Italian publisher. Born in
Trieste, Treves began to work as a proofreader in a local office
and wrote anonymously for magazines prohibited by the Aus-
trian censor. He was forced to leave for Paris when his asso-
ciation with the prohibited journals was discovered, and after
working as a journalist and translator he became a publisher in
Fiume. He joined Garibaldi s legion in 1859 in the war against
the Bourbon regime in Naples, and after peace was declared
he founded the Treves publishing company with his brother
Giuseppe. The Treves brothers published the highly success-
ful Illustrazione Italiana, and later the works of many famous
Italian writers including De Amicis, D'Annunzio, and Verga,
as well as translations from foreign languages. By the end of
the 19 th century the Treves publishing company was the most

important in Italy.

[Giorgio Romano]

TREVES, JOHANAN BEN JOSEPH (i490?-i557?), Italian
rabbi and scholar. His place of birth is unknown. In his youth
he studied together with Joseph of Aries in the yeshivah of
Moses *Navarro in Ferrara, where he later became a member
of the bet din. For about 20 years he wandered in different
towns of northern and central Italy, serving as religious in-
structor and rabbi, and as a result he was termed one of "the
peripatetic rabbis." For a number of years during this period,
he lived in the house of Ishmael Rieti in Siena as his private
tutor, a practice common in Italy. He then lived in Sabbioneta
and Bologna (1540). It was assumed that he worked in the He-

brew press in Bologna from 1537 to 1541; and it is possible that
in the years 1545-46 he worked as a proofreader in the print-
ing press of Daniel * Bomberg in Venice.

Johanan was an author, publisher, and writer of responsa.
Widely known is his commentary, Kimha de-Avishuna (Bo-
logna, 1540), on the festival prayer book according to the
Roman rite, published anonymously. He endeavored to es-
tablish the correct readings "and did not invent anything; well
nigh everything was gathered from existing authors ... as the
gleaner follows the harvester." The work was designed for the
untutored, and its title is explained in the statement that "he
was not concerned to produce fine flour but flour made from
roasted ears [Kimha de-Avishuna; see Pes. 39b] ... that had
already been ground and roasted." His commentary is based
almost entirely upon Midrashim, some of which are otherwise
unknown, and upon commentaries on early piyyutim, his pur-
pose being simply to explain the words and subject matter. He
was extremely active as a proofreader of midrashic works and
in the establishment of accurate readings of the tractates he
studied with his pupils. His glosses to the Halakhot of Isaac
*Alfasi, his approbations to the works of his contemporaries,
and his responsa (one of which, no. 58, was included in the
responsa of Moses *Isserles), are extant. He also compiled a
commentary on the laws of *shehitah u-vedikah and the hala-
khot of *issur ve-hetter of the Mordekhai of *Mordecai b. Hillel
(Venice, 1550). His piyyutim and poems are also known. Of
his three sons the best known is Raphael Joseph who was a
posek, as well as a book publisher. In 1559 he was working in
the Sabbioneta press.

bibliography: Ghirondi-Neppi, 167, 178-80; Bruell, Jah-
rbuecher, 1 (1874), 108; D.W. Amram, The Makers of Hebrew Books in
Italy (1909), 205; Davidson, Ozar, 4 (1933), 398; A. Marx, in: Tarbiz, 8
(1936/37), 173, 176; idem, Kovez Madda'i le-Zekher M. Schorr (1944),
189-219; I. Sonne, in: huca, 16 (1941), Heb. pt. 42, no. 11; H.D. Fried-
berg, Toledot ha-Defus ha-Ivri be-Italyah... (1956 2 ), 30, 65, 79.

[Yehoshua Horowitz]

TREVES, JOHANAN BEN MATTATHIAS (d. 1429), French
rabbi. Treves was ordained by his father Mattathias b. Joseph.
He was a son-in-law of the procurator- general, *Manessier de
Vesoul. Treves first served as rabbi to a single French com-
munity but on the death of his father in 1385 was appointed
chief rabbi of Paris with the consent of Charles vi and served
in this office from 1385 to 1394. After some years of tranquil-
ity, a distinguished pupil of his father, Isaiah Astruc b. Abba
Mari, became his enemy and claimed for himself the sole right
of appointing rabbis in France and of conducting a yeshivah.
With the help of Meir b. Baruch ha-Levi of Vienna, Isaiah
Astruc tried to remove Johanan from his post by proclaim-
ing that all arrangements of the rabbinate not confirmed by
him were null and void. Johanan turned for help to the great-
est rabbis of Catalonia, Hasdai *Crescas and * Isaac b. Sheshet
Perfet (the Ribash). These two supported the persecuted rabbi
and in their responsa opposed both Isaiah Astruc and Meir
b. Baruch. They claimed that Johanan, "besides inheriting his

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135

TREVINO DE SOBREMONTE, TOMAS

rabbinate from his father with the approval of the monarch
in accordance with the wishes of the communities, was also
worthy of it on account of his learning and activities" (Resp.
Ribash, 270-72). Some justify the intervention of Isaiah As-
true on the grounds of his constructive criticism of the affairs
of the French communities and Johanan's inability to halt the
religious decline which had taken place. It was Johanan who
characterized the attitude of Isaiah Astruc as prompted by a
desire to oust him from office. The expulsion of the Jews from
France in 1394 ended the quarrel. Johanan went to Italy, where
he lived until his death. He achieved great renown among his
contemporaries who referred to him as "the greatest in our
times," and "the paragon of the generation." His rulings were
much referred to by contemporary scholars. From Italy he cor-
responded with Jacob b. Moses *Moellin (the Maharil). His
responsa on the prayers to be said by orphans and a respon-
sum to the Padua community are extant.

bibliography: Graetz, Gesch, 8 (n.d.), 4, 35f., 70 n.2; Bruell,
Jahrbuecher, 1 (1874), 95-99; Guedemann, Gesch Erz, 1 (1880), 247-9;
Gross, Gal Jud, 508, 534; Weiss, Dor, 5 (1904 4 ), 147, 164-7, 2 39 n - 1;
I. Levi, in: rej, 39 (1899), 85-94; G. Lauer, in: jjlg, 16 (1924), 1-42;
A.M. Hershman, Rabbi Isaac b. Sheshet Perfet and his Time (1943),
203-13; S. Schwarzfuchs, Etudes sur VOrigine et le Developpement du
Rabbinat au Moyen Age (1957), 38-75.

[Yehoshua Horowitz]

TREVINO DE SOBREMONTE, TOMAS (1592-1649), Mar-
rano martyr in Mexico. His father came from an old aristo-
cratic Christian family and his mother, Leonor Martinez de
Villagomez, was a Judaizing New Christian. Born in Medina
de Riosoco, Spain, he studied Latin in two Jesuit schools and
canon law at Salamanca, and became a page for a nobleman
in his home town. When a fellow page called him a Jew, he
killed him and went into hiding. In 1612 Tomas fled to New
Spain, where he prospered as a merchant, with connections
at the commercial centers of Zacatecas, Guadalajara, Aca-
pulco, and Vera Cruz. His brother, Geronimo, was arrested
with their mother by the Inquisition in Spain, and revealed
under torture that Tomas was a Judaizer. Consequently, the
Mexican Inquisition arrested Tomas in November 1624 and
reconciled him to the Church the following year after he ex-
pressed repentance. The repentance was feigned, however,
for Tomas had no intention of relinquishing his Judaism. He
even had himself circumcised in jail by a cell mate. In 1629 he
married the Judaizer, Maria Gomez, and despite the interdict
of the Inquisition he dressed in finery, wore arms, and rode
on horseback. When his wife and her family were arrested by
the Inquisition, he found various ways of communicating with
them, but refused to take his wife back after her reconciliation
with the Church until he was ordered to do so by the Inqui-
sition. He was planning to flee New Spain, most probably to
Holland, when he was rearrested as a relapsed heretic on Oct.
11, 1644, and after a lengthy trial condemned to the stake. He
was the only one of over a hundred prisoners to be burned
alive at the great ^auto-da-fe of Apr. 11, 1649. To his last mo-
ment, learned theologians tried to convert him, but could not

budge him from his devotion to Judaism. The poet Miguel de
Barrios dedicated a eulogy to Tomas Trevino de Sobremonte,
but it is apparent that he confused him with another Marrano
victim, Francisco Maldonado de * Silva, who died at the stake
a decade earlier.

bibliography: J.T. Medina, Historia... de la Inquisition

en Mexico (1905), 148, 199, 206; A. Wiznitzer, in: ajhsq, 51 (1962),

229-39; B. Lewin, Mdrtires y conquistadores judios en la America His-

pana (n.d.), 116-76.

[Martin A. Cohen]

TREVISO, city in N. Italy. The presence of Jews in Treviso and
its vicinity is first mentioned in 905. A document from May 28,
972, records that the Emperor Otto 1 donated to the Monas-
tery of San Candido DTndica a farm situated near a property
owned by a certain Isaac the Jew. In 1235 a certain Vascono
Judeo is mentioned in a document. In 1294, Solomon, presum-
ably an Ashkenazi Jew, founded loan banks in the town.

After the annexation of Treviso by the Venetian Republic
in 1339 the position of the Jews there was similar to that of the
other Jews of the Veneto region. A decree from 1390 orders the
local authorities to supervise the activity of the moneylend-
ers. In 1398 the Doge Antonio Venier authorized a tax of 3,000
ducats to be paid by the Jews living in Treviso and Ceneda.
By the end of the 14 th century five loan banks in Treviso were
owned by Jews, among whom were Jacob di Alemagna and
Elhanan de Candida, who signed the renewal of their license
in 1401. At this time also, the Sicilian scholar *Abulrabi was a
student at a yeshivah in the town. At the end of the 15 th cen-
tury R. Benedict Alexander Axelrod was head of a yeshivah in
Treviso. A halakhic question addressed by the Jews of Treviso
to Judah *Mintz at the end of the 15 th century (responsum no.
7) contains references to the construction of a new synagogue
and a mikveh as well as to a method for treating eye complaints
used by Treviso Jews. In 1443 the obligation to wear the yel-
low badge was reintroduced. In 1480, five Jews were arrested
in Treviso and accused of killing a Christian child, Sebastian
Novello, in the wake of similar cases following the affair of Si-
mon of *Trent (1475); they were burned at the stake in Venice.
It seems that the Jews of Treviso were banned from money-
lending from 1483 until 1487. A Christian loan bank (*Monti
di Pietd) was established in Treviso in 1496, and the citizens
asked the Venetian government to banish the Jews from the
town. After the Jews had agreed to give up moneylending,
they were permitted to remain.

In 1509, when Treviso was captured by the armies of the
League of Cambrai, the populace rioted against the Jews under
the pretext that they had collaborated with the Germans. All
Jewish homes were destroyed, except the house of "Caiman the
Jew, friend of the people of Treviso," or Calimano de Treviso,
head of the Venetian family of the same name. That year the
doge issued a decree of expulsion, prohibiting Jews from liv-
ing in Treviso: the ordinance was engraved on a marble pillar
in the town square. The Jews moved to nearby Asolo. In 1547
rioting broke out there also when, without apparent motive,

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TRIBES, THE TWELVE

a gang of peasants killed eight and wounded ten out of the 37
Jews living there at the time. The rest fled from the area. In the
latter half of the 16 th century a few individual Jews were to be
found in Treviso. In 1880, 27 Jewish gravestones were found
during excavations. In 1909-10 fragments of Jewish tomb-
stones dating from the 15 th century were found in the Borgo
Cavour (then the Borgo Santi Quaranta). In the second half of
the 19 th century a small Jewish community was again founded
in Treviso, but has since ceased to exist.

bibliography: Leket Yosher, pt. 1 (1903), 44; pt. 2 (1904),
29, 76, 80; E. Morpurgo, in: Corriere Israelitico, 48 (1909-10), 141-4,
170-2; A. Marx, Studies in Jewish History (1944), 128, 130; M.A. Shul-
vass, in: huca, 22 (1949), 6-8 (Heb.); I. Sonne, ibid., 26-27 (Heb.);
N., Pavoncello, "Le epigrafi dellantico cimitero ebraico di Treviso,"
in: rmi, 34 (1968), 221-32. add. bibliography: F. Brandes, Veneto
Jewish Itineraries (1996), 100-3; I-M. Peles, "Rabbi Moshe Vinek," in:
rmi, 67 (2001), 27-31 (Heb.).

[Shlomo Simonsohn / Samuele Rocca (2 nd ed.)]

TREVOUX (Heb. U111U), town in the department of Ain, E.
France. Article 49 of the charter of freedom of Trevoux of 1300,
which prohibited the residence of Jews in the town, was not
respected; however, in exchange for an annual payment of 15
pounds, many Jews were authorized to live there. The Jewish
population increased considerably in 1420 with the arrival of
the Jews who had been expelled from * Lyons, who introduced
the gold- and silver-thread industry. In 1429 an investigation
was carried out against the books of the Jews. This act closely
resembled the trial of Paris of 1240; the books were seized,
and several Jews were subjected to an interrogation concern-
ing their contents. The sentence was a double one: the books
were burned and the Jews were expelled. This expulsion did
not remain in force for long, however; three years later, Jews
were again found in Trevoux. In 1433 there were several Jews
among the prisoners taken in Trevoux by the Duke of Savoy.
In 1467 the inhabitants of Trevoux obtained the expulsion
of the Jews by taking upon themselves the payment of their
taxes. The few Jews who were spared from this expulsion were
driven out in 1488. The Rue des Juifs, subsequently known
as Rue Japperie, was situated in the eastern part of the town.
Near this quarter was a stone building known as the "Tower
of the Jews." The synagogue was situated in the Grande Rue.
The only scholars who bore the name of "Trevoux" or Trabot
lived in Italy.

bibliography: Gross, Gal Jud, 219-23; J.F. Jolibois, Histoire
de la Ville et du Canton de Trevoux (1853), 9-16; C. Jarrin, La Bresse
et leBugey, 1 (1883), 477 ff.; I. Loeb, in: rej, 10 (1885), 33 ff.; E. Dreyfus
and L. Marx, Autour des Juifs de Lyon et Alentour (1958), 93-102; H.
Merhavya, in: ks, 45 (1969-70), 592f.

[Bernhard Blumenkranz]

TRIBE, LAURENCE H. (1941- ), U.S. lawyer, legal scholar.
Born in Shanghai, China, Tribe and his family moved to San
Francisco when he was five. He graduated from Harvard
summa cum laude in mathematics in 1962 and Harvard Law
School in 1966, magna cum laude. After serving as a clerk

on the Supreme Court, Tribe joined the Harvard Law fac-
ulty in 1968 and became recognized as one of the foremost
constitutional law experts in the country. He was the author
of American Constitutional Law (1978), the most frequently
cited textbook in that field. He served as a consultant to sev-
eral government committees, including the Senate Commit-
tee on Public Works (1970-72). In 1978 he helped write a new
constitution for the Marshall Islands. He was also noted for
his frequent testimony before congressional committees and
his extensive support of liberal legal causes. His book, God
Save This Honorable Court (1985), in which he warned against
"presidential court -packing," was considered the main influ-
ence in the failure of Robert H. Bork to win confirmation to
a seat on the United States Supreme Court in 1987. Tribes ex-
pertise was in legal, constitutional, and jurisprudential theory,
the role of law in shaping technological development, and the
uses and abuses of mathematical methods in policy and sys-
tems analysis. He argued many high-profile cases before the
Supreme Court, including those for Al Gore during the dis-
puted presidential election of 2000. The court had also ruled
against Tribe in Bowers v. Hardwick in 1986, holding that a
Georgia state law criminalizing sodomy, as applied to con-
sensual acts between persons of the same sex, did not violate
fundamental liberties under the principle of substantive due
process. However, Tribe was vindicated in 2003 when the
court overruled Bowers in Lawrence v. Texas. Although Tribe
did not argue that case, he wrote the amicus, or friend of the
court, brief on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union
urging that Bowers be overruled. Tribe was widely respected
by the justices, as indicated by the fact that many of them re-
ferred to him as Professor Tribe during oral arguments, a sign
of respect not generally shown toward law professors arguing
before the court. In 2004, it was revealed that several passages
in God Save This Honorable Court were copied without proper
attribution from the 1974 book Justices and Presidents, written
by Henry J. Abraham, a University of Virginia political scien-
tist. In 2005, Harvard's president and dean released a statement
saying that Tribes admitted failure to provide appropriate at-
tribution was a "significant lapse in proper academic practice,"
but that they regarded the error as "the product of inadver-
tence rather than intentionality" Tribe was the J. Alfred Pru-
frock University Professor at Harvard, one of 19 holding the

title university professor.

[Stewart Kampel (2 nd ed.)]

TRIBES, THE TWELVE, the traditional division of Israel
into 12 tribes: Reuben, Simeon (Levi), Judah, Issachar, Ze-
bulun, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Ephraim, and
Manasseh. Biblical tradition holds that the 12 tribes of Israel
are descended from the sons and grandsons of Jacob (Gen.
29-30; 35:16-18; 48:5-6). The tribes are collectively called Israel
because of their origin in the patriarch Jacob-Israel. Jacob and
his family went into Egypt as "70 souls" (Ex. 1:1-5). I n Egypt
"the Israelites were fertile and prolific; they multiplied and in-
creased very greatly" (1:7), and there they became the "Israelite

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TRIBES, THE TWELVE

people" (1:9). A pharaoh, "who did not know Joseph" (1:8), op-
pressed them by burdensome labor. God "remembered His
covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob" (2:24),
made Himself known to Moses (Ex. 3), and rescued the Isra-
elites from Egypt. By this time the nation numbered "600,000
men on foot, aside from taf" which apparently means women
as well as children (12:37). At Sinai, the nation received its laws
and regulations, covenanting itself to God (Ex. 19-24). After
wandering for 40 years in the desert under the leadership of
Moses, the 12 Israelite tribes penetrated the land of Canaan
with Joshua in command. The united force of the 12 tribes
was sufficient to conquer the land, which was then distrib-
uted among them. During this period of settlement, and the
subsequent period of the Judges, there was no predetermined
pattern of leadership among the tribes, except for deliverer-
judges sent to them by God in time of need (see also * Judges,
Book of). Such crises forced the tribes into cooperative action
against enemies under the leadership of the "deliverer." *Shiloh
served as a sacral center for all the tribes, housing the Ark of
the Covenant under the priestly family of Eli (1 Sam. 1:3, 12;
2:27). Under the impact of military pressures, the Israelites felt
compelled to turn to *Samuel with the request that he establish
a monarchy, and * Saul was crowned to rule over all the tribes
of Israel (1 Sam. 11:15). Upon his death, *Ish-Bosheth, Sauls
son, was accepted by all the tribes save Judah and Simeon who
preferred David. David's struggle with the house of Saul ended
in victory for him, and all the elders turned to David for royal
leadership. He ruled from Jerusalem over all the tribes of Israel
(11 Sam. 5:3), and was succeeded by his son. After the death
of *Solomon, the tribes once again split along territorial and
political lines, with Judah and Benjamin in the south loyal to
the Davidic house, and the rest of the tribes in the north ruled
by a succession of dynasties.

Modern scholarship does not generally accept the bib-
lical notion that the 12 tribes are simply divisions of a larger
unit which developed naturally from patriarchal roots. This
simplistic scheme, it is felt, actually stems from later genea-
logical speculations which attempted to explain the history
of the tribes in terms of familial relationships. The alliance
of the 12 tribes is believed to have grown from the organi-
zation of independent tribes, or groups of tribes, forced to-
gether for historical reasons. Scholars differ as to when this
union of 12 took place, and when the tribes of Israel became
one nation. One school of thought holds that the confed-
eration took place inside the country toward the end of the
period of the Judges and the beginnings of the Monarchy.
All of the traditions which see the 12 tribes as one nation as
early as the enslavement in Egypt or the wanderings in the des-
ert are regarded as having no basis in fact. This school recog-
nizes in the names of some of the tribes the names of ancient
sites in Canaan, such as the mountains of Naphtali, Ephraim,
and Judah, the desert of Judah, and Gilead. With the passage
of time, those who dwelt in these areas assumed the names
of the localities. M. Noth feels that the Leah tribes, Reuben,
Simeon, Levi, Judah, Zebulun, and Issachar, existed at an ear-

lier stage as a confederation of six tribes whose boundaries
in Canaan were contiguous. Only at a later stage did other
tribes penetrate the area, eventually expanding the confed-
eration to 12. A second school grants that the union of 12 ex-
isted during the period of wanderings in the desert, but that
Canaan was not conquered by an alliance of these at any one
time. Rather, there were individual incursions into the land
at widely separated periods. However, the covenant among
the 12 tribes and their awareness of national unity flowing
from ethnic kinship and common history, faith, and sacral
practices had their source in the period prior to the conquest
of the land.

The number 12 is neither fictitious nor the result of an
actual genealogical development in patriarchal history. It is an
institutionalized and conventionalized figure which is found
among other tribes as well, such as the sons of Ishmael (Gen.
25:13-16), the sons of Nahor (Gen. 22:20-24), of Joktan (Gen.
10:26-30 - so lxx), and Esau (Gen. 36:10-13). Similar organi-
zational patterns built about groups of 12, or even six, tribes,
are known from Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy. In Greece, such
groupings were called amphictyony ( c AucpiKTuovia), from
3 a[icpiKTi^a), meaning "to dwell about," that is, about a central
sanctuary. Each tribe was assigned a prearranged turn in the
provision and maintenance of the shrine. The amphictyonic
members would make pilgrimages to the common religious
center on festive occasions. The exact measure of correspon-
dence between the amphictyony of the Hellenic world and the
duodecimal structure of the tribes of Israel may be the subject
of scholarly controversy, but there can be little doubt that this
pattern of 12 attributed to the Hebrew tribes is very real and
historically rooted. Thus, if one tribe were to withdraw from
the union or to be absorbed into another, the number 12 would
be preserved, either by splitting one of the remaining tribes
into two or by accepting a new tribe into the union. When, for
example, the tribe of Levi is considered among the 12 tribes,
the Joseph tribes are counted as one (Gen. 35:22-26; 46:8-25;
49:1-27). However, when Levi is not mentioned, the Joseph
tribes are counted separately as Manasseh and Ephraim (Num.
26:4-51). For the same duodecimal considerations, Simeon is
counted as a tribe even after having been absorbed into Judah
(Josh. 19:1), and Manasseh, even after having split in two, is
considered one. Among the six Leah tribes, Gad, although the
son of Zilpah, is counted as one of them when Levi is missing
(Num. 1:20-42; 26:5-50).

The confederation of the 12 tribes was primarily religious,
based upon belief in the one "God of Israel" with whom the
tribes had made a covenant and whom they worshiped at a
common sacral center as the "people of the Lord" (Judg. 5:11;
20:2). The Tent of Meeting and the Ark of the Covenant were
the most sacred cultic objects of the tribal union. Biblical tra-
dition shows that many places served as religious centers in
various periods. During the desert wanderings, "the moun-
tain of God," that is, Sinai, known as Horeb, served as such
a place (Ex. 3:1; 18:5; cf. 5:1-3; 8:23-24), as did the great oasis
at Kadesh-Barnea where the tribes remained for some time

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ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20

TRIBES, THE TWELVE

(Deut. 1:46). From there the Israelite tribes attempted a con-
quest of the land (Num. 13:3, 26). Many sites in Canaan are
mentioned as having sacred associations or as being centers
of pilgrimage. Some of these, such as Penuel, where Jacob,
the nominal progenitor of the tribes, received the name Israel
(Gen. 32:24-32), Beth-El (28:10-22; 35:1-15), where the Ark
of the Lord rested (Judg. 20:26-28), and Beer-Sheba (Gen.
21:33; 46:1-4; Amos 5:5; 8:14) go back to patriarchal times.
Jacob built an altar at Shechem (Gen. 33:18-20) and the tribes
gathered there "before the Lord" and made a covenant with
Him in Joshuas time (Josh. 24). Shiloh enjoyed special im-
portance as a central cultic site for the tribes. There they
gathered under Joshua to divide up the land by lot, and it was
there that they placed the Tent of Meeting and the Ark of the
Covenant (Josh. 18:1-8). Eli's family, which traced its descent
from Aaron, the high priest, served at Shiloh (1 Sam. 2:27),
and it was to Shiloh that the Israelites turned for festivals
and sacrifices (Judg. 21:19; J Sam. 1:3; cf. Jer. 7:14; 26:9). The
multiplicity of cultic places raises the question of whether
all 12 tribes were, indeed, centered about one amphictyonic
site. It may be that as a tribes connections with the amphic-
tyony were weakened for various reasons, the tribe began to
worship at one or another of the sites. Possibly, different sites
served the several subgroups among the tribes. Beer-Sheba
and Hebron, for example, served the southern groups of
tribes (Gen. 13:18; Josh. 21:10-11; 11 Sam. 2:1-4; 5:1—3; 15:7-10);
Shechem, Shiloh, and Gilgal (Josh. 5:9-10; 1 Sam. 11:14-15;
13:4-15; Amos 5:5) were revered by the tribes in the center
of the country; and the shrine at Dan served the northern
tribes (Judg. 18:30-31). The likelihood of a multiplicity of
shrines is strengthened by the fact that clusters of Canaan-
ite settlements separated the southern and central tribes (of
the mountains of Ephraim), and divided the central tribes
from those in Galilee. It is possible that various shrines
served different tribes simultaneously, while the sanctuary
which held the Ark of the Lord was revered as central to
all 12.

The changes which occurred in the structure of the 12
tribes and in their relative strengths, find expression in the
biblical genealogies. The tribes are descended from four ma-
triarchs, eight of them from the wives Leah and Rachel, and
four from the handmaids Bilhah and Zilpah (Gen. 29-30). It
is a widely held view that attribution to the two wives is in-
dicative of an early stage of tribal organization, the "tribes of
Leah" and the "tribes of Rachel." The attribution of four tribes
to handmaids may indicate either a lowered status or late en-
try into the confederation. In the list of the 12 tribes, Reuben
is prominent as the firstborn (Gen. 46:8), followed by Simeon,
Levi, and Judah, the sons of Leah, who occupy primary posi-
tions. Reuben stood at the head of a tribal league and had a
position of central importance among his confederates prior
to the conquest of the land (Gen. 30:14; 35:22; 37:21; 42:22, 37;
Num. 16:1 ff.). On the other hand, the same tribe is inactive
during the period of the Judges. It did not provide any of the
judges, and during Deborahs war against Sisera, Reuben "sat

among the sheepfolds" and did not render any aid (Judg. 5:16).
Possibly, because this tribe dwelt on the fringes of the land
(1 Chron. 5:9-10), its links with the others were weakened,
and its continued existence as one of the tribes of Israel was in
jeopardy (cf. Deut. 33:6). Simeon was absorbed by Judah. Levi
spread throughout Israel as a result of its sacral duties. Judah
was cut off from the rest of the tribes by a Canaanite land strip
that separated the mountains of Judah and Ephraim. Reuben's
place as head of the 12 tribes was taken by the house of Joseph
which played a decisive and historic role during the periods
of the settlement and the Judges. Joshua came from the tribe
of Ephraim (Num. 13:8). Shechem and Shiloh were within the
borders of the house of Joseph (cf. Ps. 78:59, 67-68). Samuel
came from the hill country of Ephraim (1 Sam. 1:1). Ephraim
led the tribes in the war against Benjamin over the incident
of the concubine in Gibeah (Judg. 19-21). At the beginning
of the Monarchy, the leadership passed to Judah (cf. Gen.
49:8ff.). The passage in 1 Chronicles 5:1-2 illustrates well how
the dominant position among the tribes passed from Reuben
to Ephraim and from Ephraim to Judah.

Each of the 12 tribes enjoyed a good deal of autonomy,
ordering its own affairs after the patriarchal- tribal pattern. No
doubt there were administrative institutions common to all
the tribes, situated beside the central shrines, though informa-
tion about them is exceedingly scanty. During the desert wan-
derings, leadership of the people was vested in the princes of
each of the tribes and the elders who assisted Moses. They met
and legislated for the entire people (Ex. 19:7; 24:1, 9; Num. 1-2;
11:16-24; 32:2; 34:16-29; Deut. 27:1; 31:28). There are references
to meetings of tribal leaders and elders during the periods of
the settlement and the Judges. "The princes of the congrega-
tion, the heads of the thousands of Israel" along with Phine-
has the priest, conducted negotiations with the Transjordanian
tribes, in the name of the entire nation (Josh. 22:30). Joshua
summoned "the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers
of Israel" to make a covenant in Shechem (Josh. 24). The elders
of Israel, speaking for the entire nation, requested Samuel to
appoint a king (1 Sam. 8:4). The incidents of the concubine in
Gibeah (Judg. 19-21) and Saul's battle with Nahash the Am-
monite (1 Sam. 11) are classic examples of joint action taken by
the league of 12 tribes acting "as one man, from Dan even to
Beer-Sheba, with the land of Gilead" (Judg. 20:1; 1 Sam. 11:7).
In the one case, unified action was taken by the tribes against
one of their members, Benjamin, for a breach of the terms of
the covenant (Judg. 20:7). The war against Nahash the Am-
monite proves that the tribes were required to come to the aid
of any one of the league that found itself in difficulty. Because
of the sacral nature of the league, the wars of the tribes were
considered "wars of the Lord" (Ex. 17:16; Num. 21:14). Nev-
ertheless, the narratives in the Book of Judges regarding the
battles which Israel waged against its enemies make it clear
that the league must have been rather weak in those days. The
consciousness of national and religious unity had not yet led
to a solid politico -military confederation. The Song of Debo-
rah gives clear expression to the lack of solidarity among the

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TRIENNIAL CYCLE

tribes, for some of them did not come to the aid of the Gali-
lean tribes. It is impossible to designate even one war against
external enemies during the period of the Judges in which all
the tribes acted in concert. Indeed, there are indications of
intertribal quarrels and disputes (Judg. 7-8; 12). In this con-
nection, there are scholars who hold that the judge- deliver-
ers were not pantribal national leaders, but headed only in-
dividual tribes, or groups of them (see * Judges). It was only
toward the end of the period of the Judges when the Philis-
tine pressure on the Israelite tribes increased in the west and
that of the Transjordanian peoples in the east, that the religio-
national tribal confederation assumed political and military
dimensions. The Israelite tribes then consolidated as a crys-
tallized national -territorial entity within the framework of a
monarchical regime. David, Solomon, and afterward the kings
of Israel and Judah tended to weaken tribal consciousness in
favor of the territorial and monarchical organization. It is ap-
parent, however, from Ezekiel's eschatological vision (Ezek.
47-48) that the awareness of Israel as a people composed of
12 tribes had not, even then, become effaced.

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